Go, Jerry, Go

Does Meg Whitman really know what she's getting herself into?

Taking the offensive for the first time in his campaign for governor, Jerry Brown tried to counter Republican momentum by issuing a challenge from the state Democratic convention podium Saturday for his GOP opponents to debate him before the primary election in June.
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He jabbed repeatedly at Republican Meg Whitman, the billionaire former head of EBay who has put $59 million of her own money into her gubernatorial campaign.

"Campaigning and democracy is not about buying hundreds of millions of dollars of 30-second TV ads," Brown told the delegates, vastly exaggerating her spending. "When we live in a democracy, we're not consumers of advertising. We're agents of democratic choice. We're actors in a historical drama."

Alluding to commercials aired by Whitman and her fellow Republican Steve Poizner, who trails her in polls for the June 8 primary, Brown said: "Come out from behind those glittering poppy fields, those beautiful car crashes over the mountain. Let's set up some honest debates."

Poizner's campaign immediately accepted Brown's three-debate proposal; Whitman's campaign at first said she was open to the idea but later declined.

Good for Poizner, and Brown's offer gives him increased legitimacy while Whitman again looks like a neophyte. Brown has clearly identified her weakness, which is that she is not yet fully formed or fully confident as a candidate, just as a rich citizen wanting to buy the Governorship.

Hence his calling her out makes her look weak in every possible way. If she's not ready to debate, how can she be ready to lead? Especially a state in as much trouble as my beloved California -- there's no time for learning on the job when we're cutting teachers and state parks while tuitions and other fees are shooting up.

As I've said earlier, Brown will win because the state will need a practiced hand. He was a successful Governor in the past, even cutting state budgets when the root-of-all-evil Proposition 13 passed during his administration. Why would the state take a chance on another novice?

Sure, she made a fortune as CEO of Ebay. But she can't even hold an open press conference yet?

Or debate her rivals?