California Attorney General and former Governor Jerry Brown officially announced his candidacy for Governor in the November election today from his website, www.jerrybrown.org, at 11 a.m.

"Our state is in serious trouble and the next governor must have the
preparation, and the knowledge and the know-how to get California
working again," he said in the taped message. "That's what I
offer, and that's why I'm declaring my candidacy for governor." 

Brown, 71, a two-term governor of California in the 1970s and early 80s is running as the undisputed Democrat in the race after San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom dropped out last fall and Sen. Diane Feinstein announced last month that she would not enter the race.

Brown also served a term as California Secretary of State and two terms as the mayor of Oakland. He made three failed runs for the presidency.

In his speech he took shots at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in his attempt to explain how his experience in Sacramento will actually be a benefit, not the negative many opponents claim.

"Some people say that if you've been around the process, you can't
handle the job, that we need to go out and find an outsider who knows
virtually nothing about state government," he said. "Well we tried
that, and it doesn't work. We found out that not knowing is not good."

He will likely face former eBay CEO Meg Whitman or State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner in the general election.

Both candidates responded to Browns announcement in drastically differing manners. Whitman congratulated Brown and praised his career but briefly mentioned differences in how the two believe California should run. While Poizner took the offensive and bluntly stated that the election was "about the future of California, not the past." 

As of the last filing report, Brown had about $7.7 million on hand for the race. That's shy of Meg Whitman's $10.5 million available. Whitman also spent $19.4 million on the race for governor last year compared to Brown's $138,000 in campaign spending last year.