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LONG BEACH, Calif. -- For the first time during this election cycle, the current governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, shared the same stage with the two candidates vying be his successor -- Republican Meg Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown.
The discussion was emblematic of the nasty campaign in the Golden State, where both candidates have flooded the airwaves with tough ads and personal attacks. NBC’s Matt Lauer emceed the event, which was part of a women's conference hosted by California's First Lady Maria Shriver.
Lauer asked both candidates if they would suspend their negative ads in the final six days of the race.
“Sometimes negativity is in the eye of the beholder,” Brown responded, adding that if his rival was willing to agree to the terms, he would as well.
But Whitman was not so quick to commit. “I will take down any ads that can even be remotely construed as a personal attack,” she said. But she refused to take down commercials depicting “where Governor Brown stands on the issues.”
“It’s okay to have a discussion around the issues,” she said, but “the things that I’ve been called in this campaign – it’s not fair to the voters of California.”
(Earlier this month, a Brown aide was recorded using a sexual slur to describe Whitman in a voice mail message leaked to the press.)
“Should I leave it in the hands of Governor Schwarzenegger?” Lauer offered, suggesting that the outgoing governor should serve as a referee. But Schwarzenegger, a Republican who has declined to endorse in the race, demurred.
A recent Suffolk University poll showed Brown leading Whitman 50 percent to 42 percent.
Before the gubernatorial candidates took the stage, Lauer spoke with Schwarzenegger alone. He said that, beside the decision to marry Maria Shriver, his decision to run for governor was the best decision he ever made.
What was the Governor’s advice to his successor?: “It can’t always go your way.”
He said politics have been too polarizing as of late and that it was much more attractive for candidates to talk about their vision for the future.
Lauer said that beside the fact that one candidate is a Democrat and one candidate is a Republican, little has been said about another obvious difference: their gender. Was there any benefit of having a different gender’s perspective on how to govern California, Lauer asked in front of a mostly female audience.
“Most of my cabinet secretaries are women. My chief-of-staff is a woman,” Schwarzenegger noted. His chief-of-staff, Susan Kennedy, has always been a “go-to” on his staff, he added.
“I would not know how to do this job without her,” he said.
Lauer, noting that the governor didn’t really answer his question, asked a follow-up. But Schwarzenegger again demurred, prompting television cameras to zero in on his wife, who shook her head with a smile.
What does the governor think about his own term in office? Does he think that he left California in a better place than when he found it?
Schwarzenegger pointed to the state's recent redistricting reforms, new open primary system, and pension reform.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed the governor's approval rating languishing at just 31 percent.
But Schwarzenegger takes the long view.
“You don’t just think about your administration," he replied. "You think about the long term.”
Msnbc.com's Carrie Dann contributed.
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Interesting. If we can agree to show integrity, we will. If not, neither of us is bound to display integrity.
Is something wrong with this standard IN GENERAL as applied to candidates for public office?
Exactly when is California supposed to split from the tectonic plate and slide into the ocean? What a freak show.
Whitman is toast. She knows it too and won't spend any more of her own money on this run. California is done with experiments. Arnold was an experiment. Didn't work out very well for us so now we go with what we know works regardless of how everyone tries to spin it. Brown knows how to roll up his sleeves and make the unpopular decisions. Much like our President, winning a popularity contest is not foremost on his mind. Thank God for that!
and before I forget;
Brown was a lousy governor the first time around and he wouldn't be any better the second. He has never held a job outside government and has been sucking the government teet since the day he was born.
He would put the final nail in Californias coffin.
Kirby in Idaho,
I wouldn't be talking about sucking the government teet if I was from Idaho. Idaho is a welfare state that always takes more than they give from the federal government unlike California who always gives more than they take.
http://www.visualeconomics.com/united-states-federal-tax-dollars/
I've lived in California since 1969 and know who has worked hard for our benefit.
Anyone still on the fence in California needs to watch this. I'll let it speak for itself.
http://action.jerrybrown.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=4807
Don't you understand that when someone is full of crap, they don't want you to call them on it. They will say, "I'll put my BS ad on the air, and you can put your BS ad on the air, and let the chips fall where they may." Basically, he is saying he is a better liar and doesn't doesn't have as much to attack about Ms. Whitman's background. Brown's attack ads are not as effective as Whitman's.
kirbyinIdaho. Did you live in California when Brown was Governor? If not, you do not know what you're talking about. I did and Brown moved California forward. Meg Whitman's ad about CA's greatness 30 years ago reminds us of that--she proved that Brown did a very good job as Governor.
I agree Kirby I was there for moonbeam Browns first stints.
Speaking of never existing outside of the government...hasn't mccain been on the public dole since the day he as born? How about that sarah palin with her career in government? Darn socialists.
Good one Rick.
And what about the government giving McCain he own jet which he flew into a SA-2 missile then bailed on it. He then checked into the Hanoi Hilton and sat around getting beat by his hosts for 5 1/2 years while the government still paid him!
He came home and Barry Barack was still heroically fighting the demons and tortures of having a black as night night father and a white as milk mother in the no-mans- land of a private prep school in the hell hole known as Hawaii.
But what do you expect from the gutless Repub McCain. The whole family is filled with Republibums. Both his father and grand father were bums who fought in WWII and both bummed their way to being bum socialist admirals. The government even paid them for their "service" to the country.
Repubs. Geeez.
Megs latest ad.
Bragging about how great California was 30 years ago, when she first got there. How "anything was possible".
The governor was at that time......
Jerry Brown
Whitman still hasn't recovered from the "whor_" comment from a few weeks ago. While in poor taste, the comment did have a ring of truth to it. She's an amateur. Can you imagine her reaction if she had to take the same kind of unbelievable nastiness that's been directed at Obama the last two years? Brown's been there, done that, knows what to expect, has a good sense of humor, and knows how to brush off negativity and move on. Fortunately, California doesn't have quite the same brand of neanderthal legislators that the US Congress has (Boehner is a shining example of that).
Why elect a career politician who supports calling women a whore?
Brown has been elected so often because he's smart and knows what he's doing. The alternative is to elect the rookie Whitmans, Palins, O'Donnells, etc., and what a nightmare that would be. Some people just aren't cut out to be in politics. And Brown didn't support the "whore" comment; he apologized and at the same time showed some class by not publicly identifying the employee who made the remark.
Was that because the person making the comment is thought to be his wife? So your position is that unless someone has experience they cannot have the job but with no experience they cannot get the job. Heard that line before when I have interviewed for positions. That's why we wind up with so many career politicians. Should be term limits so that they eventually have to work for a living.
I was saying that some people are cut out to be in politics and some aren't. Whitman is running for governor to get rid of the capital gains tax, period. That doesn't make her qualified. If elected, she would screw up royally. Brown was governor 30 years ago because he had the smarts to begin with. It sounds like she's still complaining today about the "whore" comment and apparently she's been called a liar. If she wants to be Governor, she'd have to live with all that and a lot more. If she can't take it, retire with her millions and leave us alone. These republicans are so sensitive when the insults are directed at them.
Why doesn't the article mentioned that Whitman was booed by the audience throughout the meeting? It's kind of dramatic when a candidate spends $141 million of her own fortune on her campaign ends up getting booed.
Her campaign tried to spin it as "the audience was in the halloween spirit".
kirby in idaho said:
<i>"Brown was a lousy governor the first time around and he wouldn't be any better the second. He has never held a job outside government and has been sucking the government teet since the day he was born."</i>
<b>Kirby, were you even old enough to remember when Brown was governor?</b>
<i>"He would put the final nail in Californias coffin."</i>
<b>#1, don't you mean will? #2, I don't know how to tell you this, but Arnie already drove that nail years ago, I'm just hoping Jerry can turn the hammer around and pull that nail out!"</b>
AnaBanana -- Looked at the video -- were you pointing out the holier-than-thou position adopted by Lauer?
bob-1805084=====But bob the bottom line is that McCain was supported by the Government from his birth until he married his second wife Cindy who has a lot of money that she inherited from her father. And I assume John McCain is still getting his pay from his Congressional job and more than likely getting retirement pay from the navy, and bob I think the true number of planes Johnny-Boy crashed was a total of 5. An after thought bob, wasn't it wonderful how Johnny-Boy treated his first wife?
In the previous debate- in addition to the illegal immigrant housekeeper's 9 yrs of employment with Whitman, Brokaw asked another question to make Whitman uncomfortable - - if Whitman was so eager to improve California politics by winning this election, why didn't she ever cast her own vote in previous California elections. Whitman looked stunned, and apologised- but I think it's too little & too late. Furthermore, in Ebay they would ask employment candidates for their experience in their profession before being hired - but Whitman is throwing a lot of personal cash in the hope of becoming California's top officer with no experience of holding elective office.
It is not negative ads that bother me it is untrue negative ads, including false planks in the opponent's platform, false quotes, just plain made up stuff and rumours. The slandered candidate should be able to sue for damages.
The other kind of negative ad I object to are anonymous ads or phony fronts for corporations or wealthy individuals. The dirtiest are from a group with a name like "Clean Air" and then slash a candidate who is trying to clean up the air.
The other type of negative ad I object to are phony mini-scandals -- going back to the candidate's teen years looking for some indiscretion, or prying into personal sex life. This has nothing to do how they will vote. That is nobody's business to bring up.