EBay billionaire leads women to victory in key US primaries

Billionaire former eBay boss Meg Whitman could be California's first woman governor after winning the Republican nomination for November's mid-term elections in America.

She was one of a host of women to win nominations in a dozen primaries — to be candidates for governor and US Senate seats — in what is the biggest night of the primary calendar.

Ms Whitman, a political novice, will be joined on the Californian Republican ticket by former Hewlett-Packard chief Carly Fiorina, who will challenge for the US Senate seat. It is the first time the California Republican Party has put a woman, much less two, at the top of its ticket.

The nomination of the two first-time candidates begins an election season that will pit two deep-pocketed Silicon Valley business stars against stalwarts of the Democratic Party establishment.

In her victory speech, Ms Whitman took an early swipe at her opponents. "Career politicians in Sacramento and Washington DC, be warned: You now face your worst nightmare — two businesswomen from the real world who know how to create jobs, balance budgets and get things done," she said.

Ms Whitman will attempt to follow in the footsteps of fellow Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose term ends next year. Women across the country are winning nominations to both Republican and Democratic tickets.

Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln won a high-profile battle in Arkansas to claim the nomination, defying critics who expected her to lose. In Nevada, ultra-conservative Sharron Angle was chosen to front the Republican ticket. She will face Democrat and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, whose popularity has waned in recent months. And in South Carolina, Republican Nikki Haley won a place in a tight contest. Also campaigning to be the state's first female governor, she was endorsed by former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

There was a shock in South Carolina when unemployed military veteran Alvin Greene, 32, who raised no funds and had no campaign website, seized the Democratic nomination to face Republican Senator Jim DeMint.