By Carla Marinucci
Gov. Jerry Brown has $22 million in the bank and a 21-point lead in the polls, but as he seeks a historic fourth term, he's conducting one of the most unusual re-election campaigns ever witnessed by state voters - one in which he hasn't starred in a single TV or radio spot, campaign mailer, or Web video.
With less than three weeks to go before Californians can cast ballots, Brown's campaign spokesman said Tuesday that the governor doesn't even plan to be the star of his own appeals to voters this year. Instead, he'll focus on urging them to pass a pair of bond measures.
Propositions 1 and 2 - a $7 billion water-infrastructure bond and mandatory rainy-day budget reserve, respectively - are "a critical part of his agenda to further stabilize California's economy," spokesman Dan Newman said. "They're central to his governing philosophy - putting money aside in good times to avoid harsh cuts during downturns, and storing water for when it's needed most."
Brown is expected to take that message to voters in person and possibly on the airwaves.
His confident, no-frills strategy is a far cry from raucous gubernatorial contests of the recent past that have been awash in money and mudslinging.
In 2010, California voters were subjected to a $250 million slugfest between Brown and billionaire former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who spent more than $140 million of her own money in losing.
In 2002, Democrat Gray Davis and Republican Bill Simon spent a then-unheard-of $100 million in a battle Davis ultimately won, only to be recalled a year later.
This year, Brown has taken an entirely new tack in his fight against Republican candidate Neel Kashkari, a former U.S. Treasury official who has used attention-getting gimmicks like posing as a jobless itinerant in Fresno to raise his profile rather than spending money he doesn't have.
Brown's strategy is "a non-campaign, which makes it a very smart campaign," said Jessica Levinson, who teaches political ethics as a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
The 76-year-old Brown, who first held statewide office in 1971, "doesn't need to introduce himself" to voters, Levinson said. "He has better name recognition than anyone else in the state. His platform is totally known. He's been governing since the Earth cooled."
And clearly, she said, "he's running against someone people don't even know."
A USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll released this week showed the efforts have paid off: The governor's approval rating is at 58 percent, the highest since he took office in 2011, while Kashkari - who has spent more than $2 million of his own money on the race - is still a mystery to more than 75 percent of voters.
Among likely voters, Brown leads Kashkari by a commanding 57 to 36 percent, the poll showed.
Brown's non-campaign strategy was evident Friday at the Presidio in San Francisco, where he swore in 1,000 potential young voters, all volunteers in the AmeriCorps service program.
The governor never even hinted he was running for re-election. But speaker after speaker reminded the audience of his lengthy resume in public life: One introduced him as the "founder of the modern service movement" for his work in launching the California Conservation Corps in 1976.
In recent weeks, Brown has been in the news not for his politicking, but for his work as the chief executive of the world's eighth-largest economy. Voters have been treated to stories of his negotiations with legislative and labor leaders to forge the water bond on the Nov. 4 ballot and his signing of a bill mandating sick leave for millions of California workers.
No wonder Brown feels little need to invest cash or staff on incidentals like a re-election campaign website, where the latest posted press release is from 2012. In a solidly blue state, he doesn't face the dilemma confronting Democrats elsewhere who are distancing themselves from President Obama and his sagging poll numbers.
"Jerry Brown himself is a brand, and his brand is insulated against Obama and insulated against the Legislature," said politics Professor Corey Cook, who heads the University of San Francisco's Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service.
"He's been so effective in being above the political fray that he can just swoop in and say, 'I'm Jerry Brown - and I'm done,' " Cook said. "Jerry is operating as if he's at the start of his next term, not as if he's seeking re-election."
Kashkari, meanwhile, is struggling for traction, lacking the endorsements even of two other Republican statewide candidates, controller hopeful Ashley Swearengin and Pete Peterson, who is running for secretary of state.
Kashkari rails against Brown as a failed leader promoting a nonexistent "California comeback," but voters don't appear to be buying, said David McCuan, professor of political science at Sonoma State University.
By working with legislators on both sides of the aisle, and by keeping Democratic spending in check, Brown has stayed in the public eye while appearing to be the honest broker, McCuan said.
Brown's re-election campaign doesn't have a motto, but McCuan said the governor could easily adopt one: "Jerry Brown is the third way."
With less than three weeks to go before Californians can cast ballots, Brown's campaign spokesman said Tuesday that the governor doesn't even plan to be the star of his own appeals to voters this year. Instead, he'll focus on urging them to pass a pair of bond measures.
Propositions 1 and 2 - a $7 billion water-infrastructure bond and mandatory rainy-day budget reserve, respectively - are "a critical part of his agenda to further stabilize California's economy," spokesman Dan Newman said. "They're central to his governing philosophy - putting money aside in good times to avoid harsh cuts during downturns, and storing water for when it's needed most."
Brown is expected to take that message to voters in person and possibly on the airwaves.
His confident, no-frills strategy is a far cry from raucous gubernatorial contests of the recent past that have been awash in money and mudslinging.
In 2010, California voters were subjected to a $250 million slugfest between Brown and billionaire former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who spent more than $140 million of her own money in losing.
In 2002, Democrat Gray Davis and Republican Bill Simon spent a then-unheard-of $100 million in a battle Davis ultimately won, only to be recalled a year later.
This year, Brown has taken an entirely new tack in his fight against Republican candidate Neel Kashkari, a former U.S. Treasury official who has used attention-getting gimmicks like posing as a jobless itinerant in Fresno to raise his profile rather than spending money he doesn't have.
Brown's strategy is "a non-campaign, which makes it a very smart campaign," said Jessica Levinson, who teaches political ethics as a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
The 76-year-old Brown, who first held statewide office in 1971, "doesn't need to introduce himself" to voters, Levinson said. "He has better name recognition than anyone else in the state. His platform is totally known. He's been governing since the Earth cooled."
And clearly, she said, "he's running against someone people don't even know."
A USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll released this week showed the efforts have paid off: The governor's approval rating is at 58 percent, the highest since he took office in 2011, while Kashkari - who has spent more than $2 million of his own money on the race - is still a mystery to more than 75 percent of voters.
Among likely voters, Brown leads Kashkari by a commanding 57 to 36 percent, the poll showed.
Brown's non-campaign strategy was evident Friday at the Presidio in San Francisco, where he swore in 1,000 potential young voters, all volunteers in the AmeriCorps service program.
The governor never even hinted he was running for re-election. But speaker after speaker reminded the audience of his lengthy resume in public life: One introduced him as the "founder of the modern service movement" for his work in launching the California Conservation Corps in 1976.
In recent weeks, Brown has been in the news not for his politicking, but for his work as the chief executive of the world's eighth-largest economy. Voters have been treated to stories of his negotiations with legislative and labor leaders to forge the water bond on the Nov. 4 ballot and his signing of a bill mandating sick leave for millions of California workers.
No wonder Brown feels little need to invest cash or staff on incidentals like a re-election campaign website, where the latest posted press release is from 2012. In a solidly blue state, he doesn't face the dilemma confronting Democrats elsewhere who are distancing themselves from President Obama and his sagging poll numbers.
"Jerry Brown himself is a brand, and his brand is insulated against Obama and insulated against the Legislature," said politics Professor Corey Cook, who heads the University of San Francisco's Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service.
"He's been so effective in being above the political fray that he can just swoop in and say, 'I'm Jerry Brown - and I'm done,' " Cook said. "Jerry is operating as if he's at the start of his next term, not as if he's seeking re-election."
Kashkari, meanwhile, is struggling for traction, lacking the endorsements even of two other Republican statewide candidates, controller hopeful Ashley Swearengin and Pete Peterson, who is running for secretary of state.
Kashkari rails against Brown as a failed leader promoting a nonexistent "California comeback," but voters don't appear to be buying, said David McCuan, professor of political science at Sonoma State University.
By working with legislators on both sides of the aisle, and by keeping Democratic spending in check, Brown has stayed in the public eye while appearing to be the honest broker, McCuan said.
Brown's re-election campaign doesn't have a motto, but McCuan said the governor could easily adopt one: "Jerry Brown is the third way."
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