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With debates looming, candidates finally have something nice to say about their opponents

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In this race for governor, Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman have spent a lot of energy criticizing each other. Brown has called Whitman an employee-shoving, insider-stock-trading, job-outsourcing elitist. Whitman, meanwhile has countered that Brown is a record-fudging, tax-raising political insider who has never held a real job. It’s all par for the course, and follows one of politics unwritten rules: Never say anything nice about your opponent until the speech on election night.

There is an important exception to that rule, however. Right around debate time, make your opponent into the second coming of Cicero. That way, when you manage to survive the hour-long exchange without drooling on yourself, you can declare victory.

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So it is no surprise that with their first debate just one day away, the Brown and Whitman campaigns have suddenly found something nice to say about their opponents. ‘Jerry Brown has debated at least 40 times, and he’s debated political icons like Bill Clinton and Pete Wilson,’ said Whitman spokesman Tucker Bounds in an interview with the Contra Costa Times. ‘He is a seasoned veteran of these formats, so he certainly will have a higher bar to clear.’ Bounds told the Chronicle that Brown ‘may be the most experienced professional political debater that California has ever seen, and it’s a real challenge.’

Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford countered that Whitman ‘proved to be a more than capable debater’ during the Republican primary. ‘She can deliver talking points with the best of them, and she’s had more than two years of politicking to polish her stump speech. So we expect her to make a formidable presentation on Tuesday.’

OK, so maybe the Brown campaign’s ‘compliments’ are still a bit back-handed. But it’s all part of lowering expectations in the run-up to Tuesday’s highly anticipated rhetorical showdown. The PolitiCal team will be out in force Tuesday, offering live blog coverage throughout the debate and lots of reaction and analysis immediately following.

-- Anthony York in Sacramento

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