Jerry Brown - Meg Whitman debate: Opening statements
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Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman were asked to tell California citizens what they must do for California.
Whitman said she and her husband moved to California 30 years ago as newlyweds, and said they lived ‘the California dream. ... Today, what I see is the California dream is broken. I want to bring that California dream alive.’
Whitman said we have ‘a government we can no longer afford’ and talked about ‘tough trade-offs.’
Brown said ‘we do have to make some tough decisions, we have to live within our means.’ He said ‘we can’t scapegoat’ immigrants, public employees or other groups. ‘We must rise above the poisonous partisanship,’ he said. ‘We have to think as Californians first.’
Brown disavowed the notion of California as a failed state as an ‘East Coast’ idea. The debate is being moderated by NBC’s Tom Brokaw.
-- Anthony York in San Rafael, Calif.
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