“I think Meg Whitman wanted [Fiorina primary rival Tom] Campbell” as the Senate nominee, said University of Virginia political expert Larry Sabato. “It just makes more sense. Now there’s two women — she has to share the spotlight.”

Indeed, earlier this year, the notion of Whitman potentially reshaping the ticket flared up publicly, when Campbell — who had long been running against the former eBay CEO in the gubernatorial primary — suddenly decided to jump to the Senate race and instead challenged Fiorina.

Whitman’s team denied any role in it, but many Fiorina partisans believed otherwise, thinking she wanted the field clear for herself — and possibly would have preferred a male running mate…

One Republican with ties to the campaigns suggests Fiorina will prove problematic for Whitman, who is a centrist on social issues. That means Fiorina, who has some conservative street cred in part thanks to Palin’s backing, could end up exposing Whitman’s right flank in a year when the GOP base isn’t very tolerant of deviation from conservative orthodoxy, said the source.