Feb. 15, 1963 - Gov. Edmund G. Brown (pictured right) said today that California was not only a bigger and better state than New York but he believed he was a better Governor than Nelson Rockefeller. In a luncheon speech to a friendly audience at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., the California Democrat poked good-natured but pointed fun at “the second state” and its Republican Governor. His state’s recent primacy in population, he said, could be attributed not only to climate but also to progressive governmental policies that had enabled it to outstrip its Eastern competitor in several ways. The Californian was elaborate in his praise of President Kennedy. The President, he said, could easily sweep California’s electoral vote today, in spite of having lost it in 1960. Governor Brown’s guess was that Governor Rockefeller would be the Republican nominee in 1964. He laughed off suggestions during a question period that he might oppose the New Yorker that year, saying his own State House term would run to 1966 and all he wanted was to be “a good Governor.” Some Californians in the audience suggested privately, however, that Governor Brown might be receptive to the second spot on the Kennedy ticket should Vice President Johnson step down.
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