Whitman Pulls Ahead of Brown

Brown's campaign manager shrugs off new poll results
By: Gerry Shih

Tens of millions of dollars spent in advertising may be starting to pay off for Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. A Rasmussen poll released Thursday showed her advancing strongly ahead of Democrat Jerry Brown, after weeks of a virtual dead heat between the candidates.

Rasmussen’s survey of 750 Californians, conducted on Aug. 24, showed Whitman leading Brown 48 to 40 percent, the largest margin she has posted over Brown since the June primaries. Just a few weeks ago, the same polling company had Brown leading slightly, 43 to 41.

Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford dismissed the numbers.

“Rasmussen has always been an outlier,” said Clifford. “All of our polling shows us in a dead heat still, and we’re in a comfortable position.”

Whitman emerged from the state’s Republican convention last weekend in good shape after the conservative wing of her party failed to force a floor vote to endorse Arizona's controversial immigration law, which Whitman opposes. The vote would have created problems for the candidate, who has struggled to convince the hardliners in her party base of her conservative bona fides.

Meanwhile, Democrats have been ratcheting up efforts to secure the gubernatorial seat they do not want to see lost to Whitman.

Former President Bill Clinton may step in to reinforce Brown’s campaign, the candidate said in Santa Rosa Wednesday night, without revealing how far discussions had gone and what role Clinton might assume in the coming weeks. A day earlier, Brown received a boost after President Barack Obama sent an e-mail message urging his supporters to back Brown.

The note from the president — who is besieged in Washington with slumping approval ratings — caused a surge of Internet traffic that crashed Brown’s website.

“[Obama] remains an extremely popular president in California,” Clifford said.