Brown: Something Old, Something New

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As Scherer points out, Meg Whitman, former eBay CEO, spent almost $142 million on her bid to become the next governor of California. But her historically expensive attempt seems to have fallen short. (A quick moment to consider what she could have bought with that money: a 222-acre Bahamian island, a goat for every person in Egypt, or a list of other things.)

The man of the hour is Jerry Brown, Mr. Moonbeam, a former California governor, the current California attorney general and three-time presidential hopeful. As Jay Newton-Small pointed out to the bureau recently, while some of the former governors seem to suggest more-of-the-same, others also hearken to a better time. Brown ran an ad to this effect, in which Whitman talked about California 30 years ago, how full of promise it was and how such promise was the reason she came to that sunny land. Unfortunately for Whitman, it was Brown’s pleasure to point out that he happened to be governor during this golden era.

Jay also did a roundup of the five former governors vying to hold that office again: Jerry Brown in California, John Kitzhaber in Oregon, Roy Barnes in Georgia, Bob Ehrlich in Maryland and Terry Branstand in Iowa. Out of those five, results look to be 2-2-1. Brown and Branstad will likely return to their former posts, Erhlich and Barnes will not and Kitzhaber remains in a neck-and-neck race.