Brown, Whitman Sound Off to Press

Brown demands town halls, Whitman demurs
By: Richard Parks

Less than 24 hours into the general election governor’s race, the newly nominated candidates have come out swinging.

Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman sounded off to reporters Wednesday in Los Angeles, setting the tone for a race political strategists have said will be defined by enmity and expensive ads. The second half of that prediction has not yet come true; neither campaign has released a political ad since the primary nominations were called Tuesday night. But hostility is already in plentiful supply.

Brown, the California attorney general and a two-term former governor, drew first blood, criticizing Whitman’s unprecedented $50 million primary media buy at a press conference in Los Angeles.

“If I never see another political ad in my life, I’ll be happy,” Brown said. “And I’ll bet that most people feel the same way.”

Brown invited Whitman to meet him in “unscripted” town hall debates with “regular voters asking Meg and me whatever questions are on their minds.”

“We should hold them throughout the state, perhaps starting in San Diego or San Jose, and then hold sessions in Fresno, Anaheim, Oakland, Sacramento, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Francisco,” he said.

Later in the day, Whitman dismissed Brown’s challenge as “political games,” and questioned the career politician’s record.

“There will be plenty of debates in the future,” Whitman said in a prepared statement. “Jerry Brown should lay out a plan for California, and then at least we'll have something to debate about.”

Both candidates will return to the Bay Area Thursday morning. Whitman will host a “Homecoming Rally” in San Jose. Brown will take a tour of Solaria Corp., a solar panel manufacturing plant in Fremont.