California Republicans play outsider card, vow jobs

Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman (C) and her husband Griffith Harsh IV (L) celebrate with supporters after winning the Republican nomination for California governor in Los Angeles, California, June 8, 2010.

ANAHEIM, California (Reuters) - Hours after clinching Republican nominations for California governor and U.S. Senate, two Silicon Valley businesswomen on Wednesday zeroed in on jobs and the economy as they kicked off a costly and likely bruising general election campaign against seasoned Democrats.

Appearing at a Republican victory rally just blocks from Disneyland in Anaheim, former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, the onetime head of Hewlett-Packard, stressed their private-sector roots as they seek to ride into office on a wave of voter discontent with the political establishment.

"We're going to talk about the things that matter most in California," Whitman said. "We're going to talk about creating and keeping jobs."

Fiorina, who won the right to challenge incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer for U.S. Senate, appeared on stage with Whitman in front of a massive electronic banner that read "Jobs are on the way," said California had caught the country's attention by voting for a pair of women from business.

"People all across the nation are looking west and saying, 'Holy cow,'" she said.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown, meanwhile, launched his general election campaign as the Democratic candidate for governor by challenging Whitman to 10 town hall appearances across the state, saying he wanted to get away from the "partisan bickering and attack-dog politics" that he blamed for the mess in Sacramento.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Brown, a former governor who has been blasted by Whitman as being beholden to the public employee unions that wield unmatched political influence in California, said he would stand up to demands by state workers if necessary.

POLLS SHOW RACES UP FOR GRABS

But Brown, a fixture in California politics, said he preferred to get along with the group because "declaring war on the people you have to work with is not a way to get to the other side."

California unemployment has hit a record 12.6 percent, and voters in the nation's most populous state see healing the economy as a top priority.

Unemployment is a huge issue nationwide as well. The overall jobless rate is at 9.7 percent, putting President Barack Obama's Democratic Party under pressure.

For Californians everything starts with generating jobs and closing a $20 billion budget gap, Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo said.

Other issues, from illegal immigration to water -- which farmers desperately want more of -- add to that debate.

"Lurking in the background of this entire November election will be the state's budget. I suspect there will not even be a budget passed by election day," November 2, even though the next fiscal year starts in July and the current one is in the red, he said.

Whitman, 53, a cool and collected billionaire in her first race, contrasts sharply with Brown, 72, who served terms as governor in the 1970s and 1980s.

He and Whitman already have disagreed about his success with the economy when he led the state.

Pressure will rise quickly on Brown to lay out specific proposals after lying low while Republicans battered each other in their primary.

Whitman has promised to cut regulation to stimulate business and eliminate 40,000 government jobs to reduce the state budget.

"While Jerry Brown's business is politics, my business is creating new jobs and turning around the state of California," Whitman said at the rally. "Jerry Brown is bought and paid for by union bosses and we're going to stand up to those union bosses and we're going to take California back."

Fiorina and Boxer are known for blunt talk and are on opposite sides of issues ranging from abortion to the environment.

Polls show both races up for grabs.

(Additional reporting by Dana Ford in Los Angeles and Peter Henderson in San Francisco; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)