a WHITMAN / BROWN / SCHWARZENEGGER / JOINT APPEARANCE - ONE WEEK BEFORE ELECTION DAY..........

California's First Lady, Maria Shriver (Schwarzenegger) hosts an an annual Women's Conference, which was held today in Long Beach, California.  This year's 2010 Conference was unique, in that not only did her husband the current, and outgoing, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appear on the stage as a speaker, but that he was joined by the Republican and Democratic candidates vying earnestly to succeed him in January, Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown.  It was what some might call, a "kumbaya moment", a make nice, time-out in the final days of what has been a vitriolic slugfest between the candidates.  The moderator of the joint appearance between Brown, Whitman, and Governor Schwarzenegger, NBC News Today Show host, Matt Lauer, zeroed in on addressing eradicating the negative ads both gubernatorial campaigns are running incessantly, in this last week of the campaign; with Brown responding he would take his down, if Whitman would do so as well, but Whitman did not agree, although saying she would consider taking down her personal attacks on Brown, that she will continue to air her attack ads addressing Brown's record.  Brown went on to suggest an unconventional ad idea , that they each agree to appear together in one  campaign commercial, giving their stand up, face to the camera reasons for wanting to be Governor of California. ButWhitman, did not agree to that proposal.  As a final pitch at the event, Brown in jest, proposed that Whitman, who is campaigning of late underscoring she and her husband came to California thirty years ago to start their professional lives, because of the golden opportunities for success, air a commercial that notes Jerry Brown was Governor of California thirty years ago, making this State work.  Whitman responded saying Brown is the cause for much of what has gone wrong in California the past thirty years.  So much for a kumbaya moment, accept that it was a rather civil exchange with Governor Schwarzenegger sitting between them, and saying at the end compared to the gubernatorial races in other states this year, he believes California has the best two candidates in Whitman and Brown.  He offered no endorsement to either candidate.  So the 7 day countdown to Election Day proceeds with little expectation or chance, the negative ads and record setting spending in any nationwide race for Governor will halt or lessen.....On a sadder note, California State Senator Jenny Oropeza, who served in the State Assembly and Senate, the past decade and was a survivor of liver cancer in 2004, died from complications of a blood clot in her abdomen and was buried Monday in Los Angeles.  She represented the Carson / Long Beach districts of California and was 53 years old.  I  worked with Jenny Oropeza, in the late 1970's, when my very good friend, Joe Gibson, was President of the Associated Students Incorporated, at California State University-Sacramento, and Jenny Oropeza, was the A.S.I.  President of CSU-Long Beach.  May she rest in Peace..........7-6-5-4-3-2-1.......Days To Go In The Sprint To The California Statehouse In 2011, For EitherWhitman or Brown,   Fr.  Troy