Brown surprised the political world over the weekend when he proposed an almost unheard of pre-primary, cross-party, three-way debate with Whitman and Poizner during the state Democratic convention.

Steve Poizner told KTVU Monday that he loved the idea.

“Within one hour we accepted. I think a debate with Jerry Brown would be fantastic,” said Poizner. “Of course, Meg Whitman said no."

Via satellite, KTVU Political Editor Randy Shandobil asked Whitman why she declined.

“In my view, it was a political stunt. I am out talking to voters about jobs and spending and education and he is debating about whether or not we should debate,” replied Whitman “When I win the Republican primary -- which I think I will -- and he wins the Democrat primary, then we will get together. We will debate in the fall. There will be lots of time for that.”

Some analysts agreed with Whitman that Brown's move was a publicity stunt. He doesn't have the mega money Whitman and Poizner have to buy ads, so his debate challenge won him free air time.

And since Poizner trails Whitman in the polls, he was happy to cooperate with Brown and eager to try to embarrass Whitman.

“Meg Whitman can't run this campaign from her living room,” argued Poizner. “You know, she is trying to buy the race. We all know that. And turning down the debate with Jerry Brown is a missed opportunity.”

KTVU asked Whitman why her debates with Poizner were so low profile. Her first and only debate so far was only available on the Internet. The one televised debate the two Republicans have scheduled for May 2 will be shown at 3 p.m. on a Sunday. Far from the “prime time” Brown called for in his challenge.

While Whitman replied that she wasn’t involved in choosing the time, Poizner claimed her campaign had a reason for the scheduling of the debate.

“The fact that it is on a Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. is a carefully calculated move on her part to limit exposure,” said Poizner. “Absolutely. No question about it. I mean we had very little choice right? We either do it then or not do any debates at all. So we thought, well better that than nothing.”

Monday evening, the Whitman campaign told KTVU that Comcast cable set the unusual time and that Whitman had no choice in the matter. When KTVU called Comcast, they firmly denied that assertion.

In fairness to Meg Whitman, most all political candidates with big leads in the polls -- and her lead over Poizner is very big -- try to avoid doing more than one or two debates. At this point in the race, there is little to gain for Whitman and lots to lose.