In the debate this Tuesday, both Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman did their best to paint themselves as responsible leaders and the other as unfit for the task. Whitman said that Brown had too many ties to public employee unions and that putting him in charge would be like "putting Count Dracula in charge of the blood bank. Nothing will get done." Brown responded by saying that he was a supporter of cutting taxes, mentioning prop 13 which cut property taxes when he was governor previously. Brown attacked her saying that she was inexperienced and would be "flummoxed by the shark-infested waters of Sacramento." Brown tried to introduce himself to the younger generation of voters, using humor, while Whitman was straightforward the whole way through. In a counter to Whitman saying he would favor the unions, Brown revealed that her tax plan would favor the rich and leave out the middle and lower class, the very people that funded her campaign.
I think that there are ups and downs to both of the candidates, but I think that Jerry Brown's experience will help him exponentially when it comes to actually running the state. He's done it before, and he knows how to run government. Running a business and running a state are very different things, whether Meg Whitman wants to believe it or not. Her huge investment in her ad campaign only weakens my confidence in her actual abilities, making her look like she has to shove her image in our face in order to get our attention, instead of with effective policy.
