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My grandma turned 85 on Sunday. She is a California resident and voter.

She has two words to say to you, Jerry Brown.

Speak up.

And two words to say to you, Meg Whitman.

Pipe down.

How’s that for an introduction?

Don’t worry. She shut me up, too, before I could even finish asking for her opinion on the California gubernatorial race.

The look on her face said it all. She spoke before I finished my sentence.

“If I see one more Meg Whitman ad, I’m going to…”

My grandma spends much of her day reading the news, watching the news and discussing the news with friends. And so, she, like every other Californian who’s turned on a television in the last six months, has seen a whole lotta Meg, and very little Jerry.

Which prompts the oft-asked question: Jerry Brown, where are you?

My grandmother moved to California in the late 1960s and saw Jerry Brown reign supreme as a two-term governor from 1974 to 1982.

Having already been far outspent by Meg Whitman, Brown appears to be cutting corners where he can. And he may be relying too heavily on voters like my grandma to remember his track record and come out to the polls on Election Day.

If the generation who lived through Brown’s time in office is begging for him to give them answers, what can be said for California’s younger voters, who may not even know who he is? When will he make his grand entrance? 

He told Diane Sawyer in June, “I’m going to be as frugal as I can.” But then why isn’t he using his frugality to his advantage and calling a news conference? In his (free) moment in the spotlight, he can point to Whitman’s excessive spending and make a point of his thriftiness—just what California needs right now.

A recent field poll shows Brown and Whitman neck-and-neck, but how long will this last? And what is Brown waiting for?

Is he counting on the mainstream media to continue to debunk Whitman’s negative ad campaigns against him? Or is he hoping people will hate Whitman and her TV spam so much that they vote for him out of spite or on default? 

I have to wonder—what will this race come down to?

To reach editor-in-chief Callie Schweitzer, click here.