The Race for Governor Stops in Davis
As I returned home through the setting sun yesterday, I reflected on how fortunate I am to live in a community where I biked to the first gubernatorial debate of the 2010 campaign hosted by my radio station (Capitol Public Radio), my newspaper (The Sacramento Bee) and a local TV station (KCRA-3) at the world-class university (UC Davis) down the street. (If you missed it, photos and video replay are available on the UCD website.)
Such fortune calls for me to rise to the occasion and offer Davis Voice readers deep thoughts and analysis, but you will not find them here. For those, check out post-debate postmortems on Cap Radio, the Bee and KCRA-3.
Here, for your reading pleasure, are my random reflections:
The audience of 800 in the Mondavi Center was a fascinating mix of political heavy-hitters, local townies and gownies in shorts. It was hot, after all.
Logistics were flawless; kudos to UC Davis for shining a very flattering spotlight on our town.
As we waited expectantly for Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown to arrive on stage, I felt a little like we were waiting for the contenders to enter the ring. The subsequent debate did little to dispel that feeling. Jabs and fancy footwork were in the playbook.
Some interesting catch phrases from the event: “live within our means,” “reform pensions,” “cut,” and “secure borders” from both candidates.
Whitman suggested Brown will be beholden to public sector unions that help fund his campaign and that voting for him could be considered insanity (referring to Einstein’s definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.)
Brown offered that Whitman is espousing cuts for friends who share her tax bracket and suggested that the insanity of repetition might be electing a governor with the same failed platform as the last one.
There was some name calling. She mentioned Count Dracula, he likened her to Pinocchio. Brown referred to working with state legislators as swimming in “shark-infested waters.”
Both candidates wore black.
Arriving home, I shared a late dinner with my daughters who had watched the debate on TV. Full disclosure, they are 12 and 14 and one is named Meg. They declared Whitman the winner because she has a great first name, is a woman, and was clearer and calmer in her performance. They thought Brown was too excitable.
My gut instinct: Jerry Brown is the deeper thinker and I align more closely with him philosophically. Meg gave a creditable performance and has a legitimate perspective, but is overly simplistic and naive about what will confront her. If elected, neither of them stands a chance against the forces stacked against the successful governance of this state.
The girls and I ended dinner with an amusing discussion of our choice for write-in candidate if we decided not to vote for Whitman or Brown. The cat received a vote.
Show up and be counted on November 2nd.
The bottom line is that neither of the candidates can speak the truth – if they did they would loose. California is not in trouble – it is in deep trouble and without cuts – tax increases and possibly a new constitution there is no way out.
Look at how the the budget debate is going – how can Meg or Jerry hope to accomplish anything.
With both candidates slinging mud and non truths I am reminded of what I heard 40 years ago.
What would happen if Coke started advertising how bad Pepsi is (to much sugar, bad for the teeth and so on) Pepsi would respond in kind – the net result would be that both companies would loose sales. With all the mud slinging no wonder many of us choose not to vote.
I feel your frustration, Pieter, but I am not an advocate for staying home on election day. The only message that sends is that you don’t care. Vote for the cat, but show up and vote.
“If elected, neither of them stands a chance against the forces stacked against the successful governance of this state” — how true. But I too will go to the polls and vote on Nov. 2.