DAVIS, California |
DAVIS, California (Reuters) – California’s voters on Tuesday got their first look at Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman trading blows, as they battle it out for the big economic challenge of running the most populous U.S. state.
With state unemployment above 12 percent, the first televised debate at the University of California, Davis, gave the candidates a chance to showcase both their contrasting personalities and their plans to help create more jobs in the world’s eighth-largest economy.
Whitman, the former head of online auctioneer eBay, relied on figures and repeated references to “my plan” to illustrate her mastery of government. Brown, a former California governor and currently the attorney general, spoke more emotionally and repeatedly said Whitman would give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires.
Both also talked tough about shaking up the political culture in the state capital Sacramento, where legislators are trying to reach a budget agreement to close a $ 19.1 billion deficit.
Opinion polls show a close race heading into the November 2 election. The winner of the election will succeed Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Whitman made the most of her business background and twice promised to “do more with less,” invoking the technological spirit of Silicon Valley.
She also portrayed Brown as a career politician beholden to special interests and therefore unable to tackle California’s mammoth pension obligations.
“Putting Jerry Brown in charge of negotiating with the labor unions around pensions, around how many people we have in the state government, is like putting Count Dracula in charge of the blood bank,” she said.
Brown, 72, pointed to his record as governor of vetoing pay rises for state workers twice and reminded the audience jokingly of what his long experience as a public official meant for the state’s finances.
“If you elect me governor, I won’t collect until I’m 76,” he said. “And if I get a second term, it’ll be 80. So I’m the best pension buy California has ever seen.”
(Additional reporting by Peter Henderson; Editing by Bill Trott)
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