For the first time this election season, both gubernatorial candidates were on stage together with current Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The women’s conference in Long Beach was supposed to have been a way to get to know the candidates, but the event turned political.
This was not a debate, and things started out calmly with both candidates talking about their mothers. But when Today show host Matt Lauer asked if they would pull all negative ads, the conversation turned contentious.
Democratic candidate Jerry Brown agreed to the idea that got a standing ovation from the conference. “If she takes her negative ads as reasonably defined, I’ll take mine off, no question,” said Brown.
Republican candidate Meg Whitman refused to pull all of her negative ads. “But I don’t think we can take down the ads that talk about where Governor Brown stands on the issues; I just don’t think it’s the right thing to do.”
Whitman said she doesn’t support personal attack ads, but she says ads that comment on political track records should be fair game.
