Governor Brown Praises Arnie

Brown says former Governor Schwarzenegger had 'bold ideas.'

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a lot of critics lately, but Gov. Jerry Brown is not one of them.

Brown is a Democrat and Schwarzenegger is a Republican, so it only makes sense that CNN's Candy Crowley would ask Brown to bash his predecessor on State of the Union Sunday.

Brown didn't bite, according to Capitol Alert.

When asked if Schwarzenegger is a failed governor, Brown said, "No, that's not true."

"He had his failures," Brown said, "but that kind of blanket condemnation is not appropriate. He championed renewable energy, he had bold ideas. Stem cell research. When President Bush was killing stem cell research, California was leading the way. Schwarzenegger did that. Now, there's other things that I can point to, but I think we ought to let his reputation rest and age a bit before we get too critical."

During the interview, Capitol Alert says Crowley asked if Brown would run for a second term. His response, "I may have to keep my shoulder to the plow here for a bit, but I haven't made up my mind."

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