Game on.
The dust hadn't even settled from last night's primary and already Republican Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley was attacking his Democratic opponent for attorney general, San Francisco top prosecutor Kamala Harris.
"We may have similar titles but the contrast couldn't be any greater and the choice any starker than it is between Kamala Harris and myself. Kamala Harris and I differ fundamentally on values, priorities and on our records," he said in his victory speech.
Cooley went on to hit Harris' weakest spots -- her opposition to the death penalty and her choice in 2004 not to pursue it against a man who killed an SF police officer Isaac Espinoza (she "imposed her personal views over justice," Cooley charges, though his example of why he is stronger -- the conviction of a cop killer who is spending a life term in prison, just like Espinoza's killer -- falls a bit short, since there was no death conviction); San Francisco's sanctuary city status and how that has affected criminal justice issues ("Harris has adopted the policies of her sanctuary city and too often been lax in pursuing illegal alien criminals."); and the ongoing crime lab/Brady policy scandal that has led to hundreds of cases being dismissed, and the potential for more ("In contrast, we've been national leaders in expanding the use of DNA and forensic science to solve 'cold' cases and difficult crime.")
Harris' camp fired right back Wednesday morning, with spokesman Brian Brokaw calling Cooley's remarks "pretty bold statements from a guy who lacked the intestinal fortitude to debate his primary opponents."
"Steve Cooley represents the status quo: he refuses to take on a broken criminal justice system that is failing to make our communities safer. He sides with the Texas oil companies that want to repeal California's greenhouse gas laws. He has pledged that he will fight to repeal the national health care reform law. And he has opposed and derided laws that protect women and children from violent crimes, apparently because they are 'named after a female.' Cooley is right about one thing: the contrasts in this race could not be any clearer," he said. On Tuesday, however, Harris barely mentioned Cooley. Though she was quick to mention how tough the coming months will be, Harris first spent time singing the praises of her five opponents, speaking about the "embarrassment of riches" Democratic voters were faced with (though she did throw in a zinger aimed at former Facebook executive Chris Kelly, a political neophyte who spent $12 million of his own money on the race and ran harsh attack ads against Harris. She thanked Kelly for "being a voice, a new voice in the process. We should always be inclusive in our party, and we have a big tent, which means we welcome people we have not seen in the tent before," she said to laughs from her supporters.)
And, after hitting some issues that are sure to resonate well among California voters (vowing to protect the environment and fight oil companies' attempts to rollback AB32, the global warming bill; vowing to support national health care reform; vowing to fight crime through early intervention and battling truancy), Harris did acknowledged the enormity of the task before her:
"We've got a challenge, so I want to say to everyone here -- let's celebrate tonight, and (tomorrow) let's do what we've been doing: not, in the face of challenge, throw up our hands but roll up our sleeves and bring home that (Democratic) ticket in November," she said.
