Brown demurs on Sacramento move, contrasts himself with Schwarzenegger

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Finishing off the first official day of his campaign for governor, Jerry Brown told CNN’s Larry King on Tuesday evening that he would have to confer with his wife about living in Sacramento, and he sounded less than the enthusiastic about the prospect of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s endorsement.

‘I’d like everybody who I could get,’ Brown said when asked on ‘Larry King Live’ whether he’d like the support of Schwarzenegger, a Republican who has suggested he might back the attorney general.

Brown, an Oakland Democrat who rented an apartment in Sacramento when he last was governor nearly three decades ago, also demurred about whether he’d move to the state capital this time.

‘I have a house in Oakland now and I’m married – I’ve got a wonderful wife, so I’ve got to check with her,’ he said.

Brown, who has no serious primary opposition, said he did not care which Republican, Meg Whitman or Steve Poizner, emerged as the GOP nominee in June. He said he’d welcome help campaigning from President Obama, a fellow Democrat, but said he wanted to appeal to both parties with a kind of tough-love approach and succeed where Schwarzenegger had failed.

‘He’s run into the buzz saw of partisan bickering up there,’ Brown said. ‘I really believe that if the governor would just focus on knocking heads together, and listening to both sides, I think we’d get a lot done.’

In his videotaped announcement earlier in the day, Brown suggested that Schwarzenegger’s inexperience had worked against him. Talking to King, Brown said the current governor had ‘learned a lot,’ but sought to contrast Schwarzenegger’s jet-setting style with what his would be in attempting to bridge partisan divides.

‘I think the governor can’t run all around the country, can’t visit foreign countries,’ Brown said, alluding to Schwarzenegger’s frequent trips and the criticism that he did not adequately engage lawmakers. ‘I think we have to sit down starting not next year, but right after the election.’

--Michael Rothfeld in Sacramento