At the California Democratic Convention this past weekend, Jerry Brown cleverly called for three “pre-primary, bipartisan” debates:
“I am challenging my opponents to a three-way debate. Let’s have some honest, prime-time debates… Let’s hear the different ideas.”
I characterize once and hopefully future Gov. Brown’s challenge as politically clever because, predictably, the present Republican frontrunner, former eBay CEO billionaire Meg Whitman, dodged Brown’s debate challenge… just as she’s furiously dodged the media and avoided all press conferences. And avoided talking about the nitty gritty of issues.
Just as predictably, Steve Poizner, presently California Insurance commissioner and the far right’s gubernatorial candidate of choice, firmly accepted Brown’s three-date challenge.
Lately, Poizner has been running surprisingly effective anti-Meg ads, slamming her for supporting immigration reform in California. Poizner worked for a year as a White House Fellow during the George W. Bush administration.
In recent polls, moderate Republican Whitman leads Democrat Brown by an average of less than two percentage points, which is within the margin of error. Both Brown and Whitman lead Poizner by substantial margins in various polls.
Truth is that while Meg Whitman spends tens of millions of her personal fortune on the gubernatorial campaign, she steadfastly refuses to answer press questons, engage in debates, or hold press conferences of any kind….a particularly frightening prospect considering that Whitman has never held public office and has absolutely no experience in government.
I URGE you to sign the Jerry Brown for 2010 Governor campaign’s new petition to “Tell Whitman: stop dodging debates!”
Writes the Brown campaign, “Join Jerry in calling on Meg Whitman to stop hiding behind her money and dodging an unprecedented debate… Private corporations sometimes hide behind slick advertising campaigns, but it’s wrong for a serious political candidate to do the same. I urge Meg Whitman to reconsider.
“Surely, if she believes she is good enough to be governor of California she must also consider herself competent enough to appear with her opponents. A candidate for public office should not act like a used car salesperson who relies on misleading TV ads. Public service is a higher calling, one that demands integrity, openness and honesty. “
Join more than 4,000 Californians who’ve signed the petition HERE since it started earlier today.
That is one the most ridiculous ideas I have ever heard. When have debates ever occurred between candidates of different parties BEFORE the primary? What is Jerry smoking?