It didn't take long for Jerry Brown to go negative.
One week after leading off his TV advertising campaign with a softball, Brown's campaign this afternoon released two 15-second ads in which Republican rival Meg Whitman's nose grows like Pinocchio's.
"Wouldn't it be nice if every time Meg Whitman told a lie, her nose would grow?" the narrator of one ad starts by asking.
The imagery is as familiar as it is unoriginal.
Whitman has made several dubious claims about Brown in a barrage of ads since the primary. Most recently, she is running an ad featuring a clip of President Bill Clinton, citing a CNN report, inaccurately claiming that Brown raised taxes during his first two terms as governor.
The Whitman camp has defended the ad, advocating a different way of comparing tax burdens than was used by CNN.
Brown campaign manager Steve Glazer said at a press conference in Sacramento this afternoon that Whitman has told a "shameful pack of lies" in her ads.
"Enough is enough," he said.
Brown's ads are scheduled to start running tonight. They will constitute half of Brown's current ad buy, Glazer said.
In an e-mail, Whitman spokeswoman Andrea Jones Rivera accused Brown of launching character attacks and said "his record is undisputed."
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