Candidates may find winning is not so great

Business executive Meg Whitman, a native of Cold Spring Harbor, just sank a record $140 million of her own into a campaign for California governor. She's far from sure to win, but if she does, this famous eBay entrepreneur will instantly need to face the monumental problems of a huge state in worse financial shape than New York.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, still in his first year in office, traveled out-of-state this season to help fellow Republicans in federal races. Public actions for which he's best known show his fiscal resolve. But one of them, stopping a tunnel, will never carry the same glory as, say, opening a bridge.

Hard choices face Gov. David A. Paterson and both Long Island county executives each day. Over the weekend, late polls indicated that if majorities change at the nation's Capitol, and John Boehner of Ohio becomes House speaker, he will come in with close to the same low nationwide approval rating as that of Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California.

Negative researchers, rumormongers, and zealous monitors of all kinds lurk.

Why do these people want these jobs?

Those who run for office tend to be the type who look in the mirror and pinch themselves on the cheek and say, "Lookin' good! Still got it!"

Some seem to feel that nobody else could do the job right - Mayor Michael Bloomberg pushed through a term-limits change based on this immodest premise.

Some have cases of infectious big-shot-itis. They must have the perks and pay, the drivers, the attention, the seat at the card table. There have been grafters and grifters, of course - some in high places. And as recent events show, fringe-party candidates might have only a little edge over major-party candidates when it comes to odd behavior and statements.

But there are also some true believers and hard workers all over the governments who really try to serve and reform and do the best they can for those who elect them.

Whatever the motives, it takes some sort of dauntlessness to be able to say the same thing over and over every day and keep meeting and greeting and pushing, which is what the jobs usually require.

After tomorrow, the spotlight turns to thousands of disparate problems that add up to governance. If the road proves tough enough, the more self-aware of this week's winners will have secret moments of envy for those they defeat.