Whitman, Brown Trade Jabs On Money Trail
PASADENA (CBS/AP) — Meg Whitman, who has mounted the most expensive campaign for governor in U.S. history, is asking Democratic opponent to release his tax records, a challenge Brown says Whitman must accept herself.
Whitman, who reportedly has spent about $162 million and counting on an unprecedented media blitz ahead of the election on Nov. 2, says she has 25 years' worth of tax returns ready to be disclosed, but she wants a pledge from Brown that he will release his as well.
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EXCLUSIVE: KNX 1070's Charles Feldman talks to Meg Whitman
With days left in the campaign, however, Whitman's efforts may not be enough. Brown, after being outspent 6-1 through mid-October, opened up a slight edge in recent polls. Even Whitman appeared to concede last week that many voters in the economically battered state —unemployment is 12.4 percent — don't know her.
"People need to see me. They see me on TV. They see me on the Internet. But they haven't seen me in real life," Whitman said in Los Angeles. "I want people to know I care."
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EXCLUSIVE: KNX 1070's Charles Feldman talks to Jerry Brown
The record spending has been going on for months and stands out strikingly in a state facing a budget crisis that will demand austerity for years to come. Outgoing Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has stayed quiet in the campaign, will leave behind a multibillion-dollar deficit for his successor.
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