Seriously? Brown Leads Whitman 49%-44% in New Poll

Last I heard Jerry Brown was running a shoestring campaign, but he's come up with the cash for a major ad buy with this clip, "Serious." And that's exactly what I'm thinking. Seriously? That's all he's got? A pledge for no new taxes without voter approval, just like the current governor. How'd that work out? And what's this part, "At this stage in my life that's what I'm prepared to do"? At this stage he should be retiring. We've already had a Governor Jerry Brown. Shoot. We had Governor Pat Brown before that. Maybe it's Christine Whitman? She's the most epic RINO to roll around in ages, and that's saying a lot for California, with Governor "Global Warming" Schwarzenegger leaving office after 7 failed years. This state is messed up.

See LAT (at Memorandum):

Democrat Jerry Brown has moved into a narrow lead over Republican Meg Whitman in their fractious contest for governor, while his party colleague Barbara Boxer has opened a wider margin over GOP nominee Carly Fiorina in the race for U.S. Senate, a new Los Angeles Times/USC poll has found.

The Democratic candidates were benefiting from their party's dominance in California and the continued popularity here of President Obama, who has retained most of his strength in the state even as he has weakened in other parts of the country. Support for Obama may play a key role in the Senate contest, one of a handful nationally that could determine which party wins control of the chamber.

At the same time, the survey showed, Republicans Whitman and Fiorina have yet to convince crucial groups of voters that their businesswoman backgrounds will translate into government success.

Brown, the former governor and current attorney general, held a 49%-44% advantage among likely voters over Whitman, the billionaire former chief executive at EBay.

Boxer, a three-term incumbent, led Fiorina, the former head of Hewlett-Packard, by 51%-43% among likely voters in the survey, a joint effort by The Times and the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

Both Republicans were hamstrung by voters' negative impressions of them — particularly Whitman, who has poured a national record $119 million of her own money into an advertising-heavy campaign yet has seen her unpopularity rise, the survey showed.

Still, in this year of political tumult, the Democrats were facing stiff challenges too. As they do nationally, Republicans in California held a fierce edge in enthusiasm among likely voters. The poll defined likely voters based both on past voting history and enthusiasm about voting this year — a measure that projects an election turnout that is more heavily Republican than is typical in California. If the Democratic turnout ends up being even more sharply depressed, that would put the party's candidates at risk.

Obama's still popular in the state? Of course. He could be facing impeachment and folks would be still swooning. I give Whitman better odds than Fiorina. The former's going to plow millions more into the race, and if she can find a theme --- anything to spark some interest --- she may be able to pull out some kind of lead over the final stretch. I'll have more on Babs Boxer later. Incumbency is a powerful influence on reelection, especially on the left coast. But we'll see. Fiorina's an attractive candidate and a great debater. If she opens up her personal fortune for a big ad buy she might pull up even in the polls before November 2nd. That said, I'm not thrilled with any of the candidates, especially in the governor's race. And I'm still not sure how I'm going to vote. Maybe a third party candidate, which would be first for me.