2 Winners, 2 Losers in 3-Way Debate

Two winners and two losers emerged from this week’s televised debates between the three Democratic candidates for governor.

The winners were Treasurer Kathleen Brown and state Sen. Tom Hayden.

The losers: Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and Republican Gov. Pete Wilson.

None of the debate performances will be decisive in the June 7 primary. That contest seems to have been decided for Brown many months ago, if the polls are correct. As for the November election, these debates will wind up just as a footnote.

But the two clashes Monday and Tuesday nights in Sacramento and San Francisco--the latter also was televised in Southern California--were the biggest showcase events of the campaign. And they brought some political realities clearly into focus:

* We’d known for a long time that Brown had the drive, the so-called fire in the belly, to run all-out for the job once held by her father and brother. Now it should be obvious to everyone but the most anti-Brown partisan that she also has the vital combination of poise and toughness necessary to get elected and govern effectively. Brown may lack other attributes--experience, a command of details--but she can take hits without being rattled and then deck her opponent.

* Garamendi may have the knowledge, the experience and the vision necessary to be a good governor, but he apparently lacks the political skills--call them people skills--to get elected. To use the old football metaphor, Garamendi needed to complete a long bomb for a touchdown and instead he tripped over his own feet and got sacked.

* Wilson is not easily discouraged, but the uncharismatic governor could not have enjoyed watching the telegenic treasurer’s coolness under fire as he anticipated debating her in the fall. And she was improving by the hour; this was her spring training. What’s more, Wilson must have grimaced as Brown--and her Democratic rivals--constantly attacked his GOP stewardship.

*

But the candidate who gained the most, relatively, was Hayden.

For many TV viewers, this was one of the few times they had seen the former anti-war protester when he wasn’t traipsing after his ex-wife, Jane Fonda, or visiting Hanoi or being arrested at a Democratic convention riot, all scenes from decades past.

In these debates, Hayden was not the classic radical; he was the voice of candor and reason, and that probably altered his image, particularly for younger voters. He was both amusing and serious. And it showed what can happen when a politician knows he can’t win, isn’t afraid to alienate voter blocs, and relaxes and speaks his mind.

The Santa Monica liberal pushed his case for political reform, but with velvet gloves. “These are good people in a bad system,” he said of Brown and Garamendi. “It’s a system . . . that causes (candidates) to spend too much time on the phone trying to raise money from people they’d probably rather not spend any time with at all.”

At that, Brown--obviously agreeing--nearly doubled over while fighting back laughter.

By contrast, Garamendi was too combative, too contrived and too clumsy.

He opened the first debate by asking Brown: “Is it not true that there is an SEC investigation” of her dealings with politically friendly Wall Street bond houses? Brown denied it and Garamendi later admitted to reporters that he had no evidence of a probe. But he kept hurling the charge anyway.

Garamendi closed the second debate with this strange, unexplained comment: “Oh, I have been waiting nine months for you to ask me those questions, Kathleen. I have been waiting nine months. “ There were loud boos from the large audience; presumably they were Brown supporters.

*

Brown had just asked Garamendi about the “five audits” of his Insurance Department that had found “waste, mismanagement and abuse.” Also, she noted, journals had described his takeover of a failed insurance company as “botched, bungled and dumb.” And “your recklessness with the truth,” she said, “is somewhat like Joe McCarthy.”

Brown has a rare ability to smile disarmingly as she gets angry and tears into her opponent. Later, she told reporters, “I thought I knocked it out of the park.”

But the big league pitching of Wilson will be tougher.

Brown still needs to answer why she personally opposes the death penalty; the electorate probably will demand more than just her promise to enforce it. And she needs to be more convincing--show emotion--when she insists, “I’m running because I’m angry at the decline of California.”

The debate win was important, but it’s still only spring training.