Brown depicted that as an absurd question for a wealthy state with a proud history and vast resources. “Are we in Arkansas or Mississippi? This is the eighth-largest economy in the world,” he declared.

Yes, of course, the great majority of people would rather live in California than Arkansas or Mississippi. Summers that are like a humid version of Las Vegas kill the soul.

But if Brown is going to mock these states, that invites comparisons.

So here we go. The governor of California holds up Arkansas and Mississipi to ridicule even though …

— They have a much lower poverty rate, according to Census Bureau statistics that also include the cost of living.

— They have much lower unemployment, using the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ more refined U-6 measure that is based on adults who want full-time work but can’t find it, instead of treating part-time workers who rarely have benefits like full-time workers.

— They have far higher rates of home-ownership, too.

As in 1992, Brown takes debate potshot at Clintons

But I get a great kick out of this because I think Jerry Brown knows exactly what he’s doing.

Jerry has had bad blood with the most famous Arkansan of our time since early 1992. That is when, during a Democratic presidential candidate debate, he alleged that Gov. Bill Clinton had funneled state money to the Little Rock law firm of his wife, Hillary Clinton. Bill Clinton was, er, peeved. Here’s a link to a great short clip in which Bill tells Jerry off.

In Thursday night’s debate, Brown could have made his haughty point a number of ways.

He could have said Mississippi and West Virginia. He could have said Mississippi and Alabama. He could have said Mississippi and Louisiana.

But he said “Arkansas or Mississippi.”

If you’re a political junkie, this is delicious.

The main reason for this, however, isn’t the behavior of California Republicans. It’s both a broad ideological trend and specific emerging problems in the Democratic coaltion.

The trend I refer to is the increasing emergence of tech libertarians in state politics. The rich ones are a potent source of money and lobbying clout. The young ones in Silicon Valley and elsewhere are a niche voting group likely to turn out on Election Day. They have little faith in government. Even if they’re mostly Democratic now, they’re not Dems because they want the leviathan to get bigger.

The specific emerging problems for Dems have to do with the fundamentally different agendas of key party factions.

The battle is already in the open between Asian Democrats and black/Latino Democrats over a return to explicit racial favoritism in UC admissions policies.

But with every year, we inch closer to the political equivalent of the Big One, in which Latino Democrats conclude Latino kids are not well-served by their lawmakers’ reflexive support of public education policies that value the interests of majority-white teachers unions over majority-Latino student bodies.

A crucial example of this can be seen in the race for state superintendent of public instruction. Former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa avidly supports reformer Marshall Tuck over incumbent/CTA tool Tom Torlakson. Villaraigosa has been a quasi-mentor to a generation of California Latino pols in their 20s and 30s. John Perez may still be a CTA/CFT lackey, but a lot of these emerging Latino pols are likely to be closer to Villaraigosa than to his fellow Angeleno Perez. Gloria Romero, another L.A. Dem, may yet be vindicated for her depiction of the priorities of the school system as being the biggest California civil rights issue.

Eager to excuse Donnelly’s abject racist stupidity

But even if all these issues break well for the GOP in California, will the party take advantage? A month ago, I’d have said yes. Now, after watching the mixed reaction to gubernatorial candidate Tim Donnelly’s abject racist stupidity about Neel Kashkari, his Indian-American opponent, I am far less sure. A party whose rank-and-file doesn’t grasp the need to cast this guy out of the village is doomed.

I wrote about Donnelly’s idiocy in the U-T San Diego:

“Donnelly could have cruised to the runoff simply by repeating over and over that Kashkari played a key role in the Troubled Asset Relief Program — the unpopular big-government scheme that Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama implemented to try to shore up the economy in 2008 and 2009.

“Instead, Donnelly has chosen to be a race-baiter. He has repeatedly depicted Kashkari as an advocate of extreme Islamic Sharia law because Kashkari once spoke at a conference in which Sharia finance was the focus.

“This is ridiculous. Kashkari is a Hindu of Indian descent who advocates free-market capitalism — not a Muslim cleric seeking religious control of government institutions.

“It is also odious, because Donnelly evidently hopes to gather votes from Californians by encouraging the idea that all people with dark skin whose ancestors hail from Asia are crypto-terrorists.

“Sadly, this may be something that Donnelly actually believes.”

And even if he does believe it, based on the online comments and emails I’ve seen, lots of GOPers are eager to forgive him for it.

Both Donnelly, Kashkari are ‘imperfect’

As well as some people who should know way, way better. FlashReport gave big play Sunday to a piece on the governor’s race in which author David Salaverry suggested there was some sort of moral equivalence between Donnelly’s Sharia manure and Kashkari’s criticizing Donnelly for taking government perks and being a bad businessman.

They’re both “imperfect” GOP candidates, you see.

Get used to being marginal, California Republicans. If you’re this obtuse, you deserve it.

This is not a defense of Kashkari. It takes chutzpah to run for the Republican nomination for governor in the largest state after admitting to voting in 2008 for the epic walking debacle that is Barack Obama. But at least Kashkari is not a racist dolt.

Like Tim Donnelly.

“It’s time to step away for a while, and spend more time with my family and stay a little closer to home helping my community, as an active private citizen,” he said, according to his prepared remarks. “I know it’s cliché to say I am not running so I can spend more time with my family. Everybody says that. But the truth is, that is a major factor in my decision today.”

The son of an immigrant fieldworker turned mayor of Santa Maria, Maldonado has long been considered the Republicans’ best chance to reach out to the state’s growing Latino population, which is projected to become the state’s largest “race or ethnic group” in March. In 2000, although just a freshman state assemblyman, Maldonado was given a prominent speaking role at the Republican National Convention.

2009 tax vote damaged Maldonado’s rising star

Maldonado’s promising career stalled later in the decade with his 2009 vote for “the largest tax increase in California history.”

“It’s not surprising that Maldonado never caught fire with the voters on this campaign because of his deplorable record of raising taxes,” said Jon Fleischman, the publisher of the conservative website FlashReport.org.

In addition to struggling with the party’s conservative base, Maldonado’s candidacy failed to gain traction with the state’s top Republican donors. His last major campaign contribution reported to the Secretary of State’s Office occurred 60 days ago. According to campaign finance reports for the first half of 2013, the former state senator had raised $314,222, of which 60 percent had been spent on campaign consultants.

In September, Maldonado’s campaign went through a major staff shakeup as he ditched his expensive Washington D.C.-based campaign consultants in favor of a more grassroots operation that included Jimmy Camp, considered “one of the most highly respected Republican organizers in California.”

Tim Donnelly only GOP candidate now — but not for long

The announcement temporarily leaves Asm. Tim Donnelly, a favorite of the state’s Tea Party activists, as the only Republican challenger to Governor Jerry Brown. Donnelly, who thanked Maldonado for his years of service to the state, said that Maldonado’s decision provides voters with a stark contrast to Brown.

“With nearly 2 million Californians still out of work and California’s economy suffering, we remain focused on our message that’s resonating with voters – a real choice at the top of the ticket this fall,” Donnelly said. “Our goal in this primary has always been to clear the field, so that we can focus on our primary opponent, Jerry Brown. With the field narrowing, we intend to continue doing just that.”

However, Donnelly isn’t expected to remain the only Republican candidate for very long. Maldonado’s departure from the race could bolster the chances of moderate Republican Neel Kashkari, a former Bush administration Treasury Department official who managed the TARP financial bailout.

“I admire @abelmaldonado’s career of public service and know he has a lot more to contribute to California in the future,” Kashkari tweeted shortly after the announcement.

Kashkari, who is expected to formally announce his campaign soon, has made the state’s growing economic inequality a central theme of his tour throughout the state.

“Kashkari is packaging Republican issues in a way that’s designed to appeal to people who wouldn’t normally vote for Republicans,” observes UT San Diego columnist Steven Greenhut, who was impressed by Kashkari’s passion in a recent interview.

Jerry Brown well-positioned against all challengers

No matter which Republican candidate makes the November run-off, he is unlikely to defeat the Democratic incumbent. According to a Field Poll in December, Brown enjoys a 58 percent approval rating. By comparison, Brown’s predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger left office with an approval rating of just 22 percent.

Brown’s numbers are so strong that some have jokingly speculated that Brown could win a Republican Party primary. In the early 20th century, California gubernatorial candidates could run in both primaries.

“Ask yourself, if Jerry Brown, the powerful incumbent governor, were in a Republican primary today might he fare well against the Republican field?” posits Joel Fox, the editor of Fox & Hounds and president of the Small Business Action Committee. “The gubernatorial candidate many Republicans might think is the safest bet in the November election just may be Jerry Brown.”

Other candidates for governor include the Green Party’s Luis J. Rodriguez, who released a new campaign video Wednesday.