A thicket of extended TV truck antennas crowded the paseo between the two Fairmont towers, so we pulled up and asked the doorman which millionaire had rented the ballroom. Meg Whitman?

Steve Poizner? Actually, former Congressman Tom Campbell had secured a small room off the alley to put the best face possible on his noble but doomed U.S. Senate bid. As Carly Fiorina pulled ahead in the early returns, we asked Campbell about the influence of money in politics this year.

“It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?” Campbell laughed and flashed a Kennedyesque smile.

Former Assemblyman Jim Cuneen predicted that Campbell would win Northern California. Heck, maybe this is a good time to snap that pesky southern appendage off anyway.