In the case of Brown versus Younger, the central question that pro-Jarvis voters must decide is whether to re-elect an incumbent governor who opposed the proposition but then did a 180-degree turn to implement it swiftly and boldly — or to select a challenger who gave the measure little more than token support and then disappeared from view during the implementation period.

Then there is the issue of which of them is telling the truth about spending. This is an area in which statistics can tell horrendous lies. This year’s state budget, for example, will go down in the record books as by far the largest ever — even though it is one of the tightest. That’s because the $4 billion in post-Jarvis aid to local government will be reflected in the total.

No knockout punch

Did Brown steal the race with his swift early maneuvering? Private polls taken for the Younger organization indicate that Brown’s handling of Proposition 13 definitely reversed his downward popularity slide.

Veteran GOP campaign strategist Stu Spencer saw this as an ominous sign for Younger: “When you have two well-known candidates, and you’re trying to dump an incumbent, you’d better get to him early, before Labor Day, or you’re in deep trouble.”

Brown seemed to find a new way each week to show the public that he is carrying out its will. One example: the renter hot line designed to help tenants get their fair share of the Jarvis-Gann rewards, or at least to prevent rent hikes. Younger, meanwhile, launched an expensive radio ad campaign in an effort to break the favorable linkage in the voter’s mind between Brown and the implementation of Proposition 13.