Brown vs. Whitman: Somebody Had to Win

Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman held their first debate in the Calfiornia governor's race tonight. Reactions ...

Whitman: This person has no sense of humor. Makes George Deukmejian look like George Jessel! Seems annoyed she has to participate in this pointless democratic ritual when she could be in a boardroom with Mitt Romney. (You can see her thinking: "I guess I have to force a smile again.") I imagine the public employee unions might quickly cave to her demands just so they don't have to spend any more time in a room with her. Fails to hang Brown's disastrous appointment of Chief Justice Rose Bird firmly around his neck. Bashes government unions but doesn't mention that it was Brown who signed the bill authorizing public employee collective bargaining in the first place. Best moment unexpectedly came when she talked about California's wildly disproportionate share of the nation's welfare rolls (the state is a laggard at pushing recipients into the job market).

Brown: Seemed like a flaky but occasionally funny old coot who'd been on the public payroll virtually all his life and didn't know how to do anything else. Indulges in bogus populist rhetoric (e.g., implying that the housing crash result from the "abuse" of borrowers as opposed to Wall Street's reselling of government-promoted loans to people who never should have been borrowers at all). Best moment: When he talked about vetoing state pay raises twice, and said he wanted to die in the state (after admitting that if he were younger he'd run for president again).

Winner: I didn't like either one of these people coming into the debate. After the debate I like both of them less. I'm voting on structural grounds. After all, we Californians have now tried electing a Republican governor to tame the union-dominated Democratic legislature, in part by threatening to go over their heads and take initiatives directly to the voters. It didn't work--Arnold Schwarzenegger got his hat handed to him when he tried to go the initiative route--and there is not much reason to think it will work better for Whitman, who doesn't have Schwarzenegger's charisma. Better to put the whole mess in the Democrats' lap and give them no excuses.

But if I have to pick a winner it's Brown (narrowly). At least he seemed like a human being. ...

Update: Solid Calbuzz summary. ...

More: There's no pleasing some people! ... 7:36 p.m.