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@@@ People looking for the biggest takeaway from Thursday night鈥檚 mano-a-mano meeting between Gov. Jerry Brown and Republican Neel Kashkari can focus on a single figure: zero. That鈥檚 the total number of press releases and statements the governor鈥檚 team sent out after the hour-long event, televised live from Sacramento. That鈥檚 not the story for Kashkari, who bombarded reporters with instant update e-mails during the debate and followed them with back-patting reports of just how well he had done against Brown. 鈥淕ov. Brown鈥檚 Bad Budget Math,鈥?鈥淕ov. Brown Marches to the Union Beat,鈥?and 鈥淕ov. Brown Is King of Crony Capitalism,鈥澛爓ere among the half dozen detailed opposition research pieces Team Kashkari had cued up, Thursday night, ready to launch the minute the candidate touched on the topic. Less than an hour after the debate ended, Kashkari鈥檚 people were out again with a new piece, 鈥淓lected Officials 鈥?Praise Kashkari Debate Performance,鈥?a list of Republicans who thought the Republican candidate for governor did a great job. On Friday, Kashkari and his crew were back again, this time with a 鈥渂est of鈥?e-mail highlighting the most favorable quotes from newspaper stories about Kashkari鈥檚 performance in the debate. The candidate鈥檚 Twitter feed was weighted down with congratulatory messages as well. Thank you! ": Hey Neel, you dominated yesterday. I cant be any prouder as a Californian to hear strong words鈥? 鈥?Neel Kashkari (@neelkashkari)

Thanks! <a href=http://capstone.edu.sg/clreplicashoes.php>Christian Louboutin Outlet</a>  : great debate! I was undecided, now I'm not. Browns parting shot about rewatching said it all. He's a rerun鈥? 鈥?Neel Kashkari (@neelkashkari)

And from Brown? Still zero. He鈥檚 been silent on Twitter since this viral tweet on Monday: Happy , California: 鈥?Jerry Brown (@JerryBrownGov)

It鈥檚 not a surprise, really. For Kashkari, a little-known, underfunded candidate making his first run for political office in a relentlessly Democratic state, the debate was probably his one and only chance to take a whack at California鈥檚 best-known politician at a time and place where people 鈥?and the media 鈥?were actually paying attention. On Friday, Kashkari was back to his low-cost, limited-reward campaign strategy, slamming the governor in talk-radio interviews before a listening audience often made up of true believers. Kashkari made the most of his opportunity Thursday, staying on the attack, dismissing Brown鈥檚 goals and accomplishments and painting California as a failing state one small step from bankruptcy and physical and social disaster. It was a picture that led the governor to muse, 鈥淚s this California or are we in Arkansas or Mississippi?鈥? The debate was a huge deal for Kashkari and he had to play it that way, calling <a href=http://www.alportico.net/gosoc.php> true religion sale</a> for major changes in the way California is being run, even if that meant ignoring the type of nuances that are important when it comes to governing but far less so in a fast-moving TV debate. When Brown suggested that California is 鈥渕aking incremental progress鈥?in dealing with its long-running economic and social problems, Kashkari was quick to dismiss that as not good enough. 鈥淭he time for incrementalism is long since passed, governor,鈥?he shot back. But for Brown, Thursday鈥檚 debate was only a jog in his road toward re-election, a box he needed to check off for the voters. His goal was not to make a splash, but to simply avoid making the type of head-shaking gaffe that would stay in the news from now until election day.

shows Brown with a 50 percent to 34 percent lead over Kashkari, with 56 percent of voters having a favorable impression of him and 58 percent pleased with the job he鈥檚 doing as governor. If that鈥檚 not enough, at the end of June he had <a href=http://www.museosangennaro.com/Public/anel.php> Christian Louboutin Shoes UK</a>  a $22.3 million to $197,937 fundraising lead over Kashkari, just in case he needs to get his message out to voters.

As a veteran of a lifetime in politics, Brown knows what鈥檚 important to his re-election, chances and a one-hour debate less than a week after Labor Day isn鈥檛 it. Which is why, of course, he scheduled it then. For Brown, zero is a perfectly good number to take from the debate, if it means no real mistakes, no more debates and no new problems on his road to a record fourth term.