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Jerry Brown fires back at Chris Christie, calls for a fitness contest

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It appears that Gov. Jerry Brown is game for a cross-country rivalry with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Christie fired the first shot on Monday, telling delegates at the Republican National Convention in Tampa that Brown was an ‘old retread.’

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Brown initially dismissed Christie’s comments as name-calling and said he would take the high road. But on Thursday, in a speech to union members in Los Angeles, Brown changed tactics.

The governor said there was nothing wrong with being old since experience means he ‘may know a hell of a lot more than’ Christie.

Then Brown challenged his East Coast counterpart to a fitness contest. ‘I hereby challenge Gov. Christie to a three-mile race, a push-up contest and a chin-up contest,’ he said. ‘And whatever he wants to bet. I have no doubt of the outcome.”

Brown’s audience laughed at the challenge.

[Updated 5:35 p.m.: The 74-year-old governor is known for impromptu displays of strength. Two years ago he challenged a reporter to do 11 chin-ups, then did 12 himself.

A spokesman for Christie, Kevin Roberts, shot back at Brown in an email.

‘Defensive much?’ Roberts wrote. ‘This is what it looks like when you’re out of ideas I guess. Except, of course, raising taxes.’

Brown isn’t the first politician who wanted to settle a score with Christie in the gym or on the field. Democratic New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who frequently spars with Christie, said last year that he isready for a foot race whenever he chooses.”]

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-- Chris Megerian in Sacramento

twitter.com/chrismegerian

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