California Gov'nr

Kaus doesn't like either Brown or Whitman.

I didn't like either one of these people coming into the debate. After the debate I like both of them less. I'm voting on structural grounds. After all, we Californians have now tried electing a Republican governor to tame the union-dominated Democratic legislature, in part by threatening to go over their heads and take initiatives directly to the voters. It didn't work--Arnold Schwarzenegger got his hat handed to him when he tried to go the initiative route--and there is not much reason to think it will work better for Whitman, who doesn't have Schwarzenegger's charisma. Better to put the whole mess in the Democrats' lap and give them no excuses.

But if I have to pick a winner it's Brown (narrowly). At least he seemed like a human being. ...

Sigh.