Brown-Poochigian Smackdown in S.F.

When your publisher is forced to resign, the best thing to do is get out of town. Rather than wait for the morbid e-mails about the state of The Times, I went to San Francisco today for a debate between Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown and state Sen. Chuck Poochigian, candidates for attorney general.

I could have watched it on a KPIX webcast, but that would have meant no $30.99 expense account lunch at MacArthur Park near the Embarcadero, with two business executives sitting next to me at the bar telling raunchy Rep. Mark Foley jokes.

I drove 90 miles to watch the debate on a big-screen TV in a KPIX studio, with the vague promise of face-to-face interviews afterward. The format was cable-access awkward — both candidates sitting at a conference table across from the very serious S.F. Chronicle editorial board. There was a potted plant and a beige wall behind the candidates.

The scene was so boring, you actually had to listen to their words.

Upstairs, four reporters covering the debate were placed in an empty TV studio along with eight Brown and Poochigian political consultants. A plasma screen stood before a large sign that read, "The Last Honest Sports Show."

This is how most reporters cover debates — removed from the candidates but surrounded by their spinners. I don't mind much, since you see things the same way voters are seeing the debate — on the tube. You can ignore the spinners, mostly.

"Hey ... just in case we missed it, any more homicides?" Ken Khachigian, a longtime Republican political consultant, asked a reporter before the debate. It was clear Poochigian would be lashing out at Oakland's murder rate. (The reporter wisely did not answer the question.)

During the debate, it took only 14 minutes for Brown to retrieve a .50-caliber bullet from his suit pocket and dramatically place it on the KPIX conference table. The camera zeroed in. Brown lashed out against Poochigian for voting against legislation to outlaw .50-caliber weapons.

"Knew it," a Poochigian staff member muttered after Brown placed the bullet upright on the table.

Poochigian fought back: "The cap on my pen is larger than the bullets that have killed over 700 victims in the city of Oakland while this man has been mayor."

Reporters rushed downstairs after the debate. Brown was standing in front of an elevator with his wife, looking ready to leave. Poochigian rushed through the gathering crowd and confronted Brown just inches from his face. Poochigian asked Brown how he could assert during the debate that Poochigian had attended an "anti-stem cell" meeting.

Brown looked him in the eye and said, "I'll send you the information," then twisted his body to leave.

A KPIX reporter grabbed Brown for an interview, and Poochigian turned to talk to print reporters. Brown finished and headed into an elevator with an S.F. Chronicle reporter following him. Poochigian remained upstairs to answer questions from anyone who wanted to ask.

It was time to head back home and prepare for the Angelides-Schwarzenegger smackdown Saturday. In Sacramento. Without an expense account lunch.

UPDATE: L.A. Times scribe Eric Bailey has a nice overview of the actual news at the debate.

(Photos: Robert Salladay / LAT)