Candidates made final campaign stops Monday in Southern California, one day before voters head to the polls to decide races for governor, Senate and a list of ballot propositions.
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In the race for governor, Democrat Jerry Brown was in San Diego early Monday then headed to Los Angeles. He joined with other Democrats in a get-out-the-vote rally at the Central Library in downtown.
"When I start, and I'm going to start this job if I'm elected, I'm not going to wait for a couple of months," Brown said. "I'm gonna go to work in two weeks, and I'm going to seek the help of you, and other legislators, I'm gonna go up and down the state and the budget is not going to be a secretive process. It's going to be wide open, transparent, inclusive and exhaustive."
Brown and Sen. Barbara Boxer announced late Sunday they will wrap things up Monday evening in the Bay Area. Both candidates are scheduled to appear at a rally in Oakland's Jack London Square starting at 5:15 p.m.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman was in Menlo Park early Monday.
She visited a campaign field office in Woodland Hills later Monday.
"We are gonna win this. We are going to win this because we're gonna turn out the vote in a much more dramatic way than the opponents," Whitman told supporters. Whitman rallied workers at the office, then picked up a phone herself to call prospective voters to encourage them to head for the polls on Tuesday.
Three full days of campaign events, concluding Monday evening for both gubernatorial candidates, are an attempt to connect with voters and rally their core supporters after weeks of television ads that have been heavy on attacks. Which candidate is best to revive the poor economy and break the political paralysis in Sacramento have been the race's dominant themes.
A month ago, public opinion polls showed the gubernatorial race too close to call. But Brown appears to have gained the momentum in the final weeks of a campaign that has turned increasingly negative.
A Field Poll released Thursday showed the Democratic state attorney general with a double-digit lead over Whitman among likely voters, 49 percent to 39 percent.
Boxer, Fiorina Down to the Wire
The activity was just as brisk for the campaigns of Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, the Republican trying to unseat her.
Boxer greeted voters at a restaurant in Toluca Lake, stressing that voter turnout will key in Tuesday's election.
"The people have to vote," she said. "If we have a decent turnout, I'll be back in the Senate fighting for California. And that's why I'm working very hard today and tomorrow."
At a Sacramento GOP phone bank center Monday, Fiorina stopped to rally voters.
“We’re going to have a great victory in less than 36 hours,” Fiorina said at the phone bank, the LA Times reported.
Fiorina is hoping to unseat Boxer. The three-term Senator is in a tight race with the former Hewlett-Packard CEO. Polls show Boxer with a narrow lead.
