The long-awaited confrontation between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman came and went, and every news junkie from L.A. to Redway analyzed the encounter. The bottom line: Brown and Whitman labored mightily but gave forth a mouse.
From KQED's John Myers: "About two thirds of the way through tonight's gubernatorial debate, anyone hoping to see something different from these two candidates surely had to have changed the channel."
"That's not to say Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown weren't making any important points in this matchup, rather that the first debate seemed to reinforce the narrative that's developed in this race so far: Whitman as a careful, messaged candidate expressing disdain for politicians... Brown as a frenetic, shoot from the hip public persona who constantly must defend his long history in elected office."
"Good luck figuring out who won."
Well, Dan Walters, no admirer of Brown, figured out who won: Whitman.
"That said, Republican Whitman could be viewed as a winner of sorts because she proved that after the better part of two years of campaigning for governor, she's learned to handle herself fairly well in public arenas and no longer flees when confronted with a tough question. Simply put, she held her own."
"Democrat Brown was – well, he was Brown, the glib, sometimes humorous, off-the-cuff philosopher-prince who sometimes doesn't know when to stop talking. Tellingly, he was rambling on during what was supposed to be his brief closing statement and had to be cut off by the debate moderator."
Perhaps the most interesting event at the debate happened after the sparring was over, and Brown was a no-show at the post-debate confab.. The reporters were not pleased.
From Anthony York at the LAT: "Then the media waited for Brown. And waited. Finally, word came that Brown was not going to come to the spin room, but was going to go outside to talk to "real people," whoever those are."
"Soon, a crowd gathered in the lobby, as TV cameras and reporters created an amorphous blog, trailing Brown as he ambled through the lobby.
Brown stepped outside into the warm Davis evening where he was greeted by protesters shouting: "What's your plan?!"
Meanwhile, the debate wasn't the only thing going on at UC Davis, reports the Bee's Laurel Rosenhall and Torey Van Oot.
Talk is cheap and whiskey is expensive, as the saying goes, so let's move on from the debates.
A federal judge halted the scheduled execution of Alberft Greenwood Brown, reports Carol J. Williams in the L.A. Times.
" U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel reversed a decision
he handed down Friday that the execution could go forward
if the state gave Brown the option of dying by a single-injection method used in other states, rather than
the three-drug cocktail prescribed by California's new regulations."
"A federal appeals court returned the case to Fogel
late Monday, saying he had "erred" in offering Brown
an execution method unauthorized in this state."
And to wrap up a busy day, we look for relief in our "Things Could Always Be Worse" file. If you're 35, lonely, unhappy in your relationships, hate your job and not getting enough sex, cheer up -- you've got LOTS of company.
So if you have plenty of sex, lots of money and a great job, you'll be fine. I knew that....