Jerry Brown Invites Meg Whitman Over for Tea

After having his frugal credentials questioned by Republican gubernatorial rival Meg Whitman, Attorney General Jerry Brown countered with an invitation to tea at his $1.8 million home in the Oakland hills.

"If Meg would like to come by, I'd be glad to serve her a cup of tea, and we could talk about our next debate," Brown offered during a radio interview with KGO.

He pointed out that the Whitman manse in Atherton is far larger and more valuable, and that his home is five stories only because it sits on a near-vertical lot.

A more potentially damaging line of attack may be on Brown's long association with Jacques Barzaghi, with whom Brown was nearly inseparable for decades.

In 2004, Barzaghi was fired by Brown, then the Mayor of Oakland, after repeated complaints about Barzaghi's sexual harassment.

Barzaghi has been spotted around Oakland, where he's registered to vote, but a spokesperson for the Brown campaign said that there's been no contact since.

Brown is also going to have to be careful about crafting his public message, since the Whitman campaign is watching him very, very closely -- sending moles to Brown appearances armed with smartphones that can deliver live video online.

That's how the tech-savvy Whitman campaign managed to catch Brown saying that as governor, he wouldn't want to "rock the boat" in Sacramento.

Jackson West would be happy to have tea with Jerry Brown and explain Ustream to him.