If there's a gubernatorial debate to watch, it's the one tonight. And, well, it's the last one between Democrat & Attorney General Jerry Brown and Republican & former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Expect it to be fiery, not just because the distractions -- Whitman's undocumented housekeeper and Brown's "whore" controversy -- are front and center, but because veteran newsman Tom Brokaw is moderating.
Brokaw plans to keep the two on point and hopefully he has them stick to the issues. But good can a debate be with a moderator who lives in Montana? This week he told the San Francisco Chronicle that he's no "patsy" and has been following the race. He's also no stranger to the state: his early reporting days were spent in Los Angeles (he covered Brown in the 1966 election) and his immediate family lives in Orange County and San Francisco.
The 6:30 p.m. debate at Dominican University of California in San Rafael will be broadcast live on NBC affiliate stations statewide, including KNBC in Los Angeles. Local radio stations KPCC 89.3 FM and KCRW 89.9 FM will also carry it live with KCRW following the event up with analysis on Warren Olney's "Which Way, L.A?" from 7:30 to 8 p.m.
The debate will also be live-streamed online at various websites, including NBCLA andKQED's "The California Report." Numerous websites will be live-blogging as well. Of note is the non-profit investigative California Watch, which will carry live analysis at their Politics Verbatim site.
