"I don't agree with that comparison. This is a five-week old private conversation picked up on a cell phone with a garbled transmission, very hard to detect who it is. I don't want to get into the term and how it's used. But I'll say the campaign promptly apologized and I reaffirm that apology tonight."
-Jerry Brown, whose aide was caught calling Meg Whitman a "whore," in response to moderator Tom Brokaw's assertion that the word was as offensive to some as the "N-word."
"I think every Californian and especially women know exactly what is going on here and that is a deeply offensive term to women."
-Meg Whitman, in her response
"There is no evidence that California is in the midst of a crime emergency as a result of substantial migration of persons born in other nations. To allow this myth to guide public policy discussions about newly arrived noncitizens and future American citizens is harmful."