Democratic candidate and former Gov. Jerry Brown released a new attack ad against his rival in the California gubernatorial race, former eBay chief Meg Whitman. In it, the Republican candidate echoes the words of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — literally.
The minute-long spot starts with a clip of Schwarzenegger saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” and then cuts to a clip of Whitman saying the exact same thing. The rest of the ad follows suit.
Whitman has kept her distance from the current governor, whose approval ratings are in the low 20s, and Schwarzenegger has mostly avoided from commenting on the race. Last week however, he took to Twitter to criticize both Brown and Whitman.
On Thursday, @Schwarzenegger addressed allegations that Whitman has been trying to negotiate with the state’s police unions to keep them from endorsing Brown. “It’s appalling when anyone sells out,” said Schwarzenegger. In response to the leaked audio of a Brown campaign worker calling Whitman a “whore,” the governor said, “That word is unacceptable”.
Some highlights from the Brown ad:
Schwarzenegger: “I entered this office beholden to no one except you.”
Whitman: “I will owe my office to no one but you.”
Schwarzenegger: “I don’t owe anyone anything.”
Whitman: “I don’t owe anyone anything.”
Schwarzenegger: “We do not have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem.”
Whitman: “We do not have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem.”
The latest Rasmussen poll has Brown’s support up at 50 percent and Whitman at 44 percent. Four percent are undecided. The ad is scheduled to start running statewide later today.