new governor brings the candidates together for the first time. the first debate is over tonight and the candidates did not mince words. live team coverage starts right now. tom sinkovitz begins with the big picture and analysis. tom? well, lisa, it had been a ward of 30-second commercials until tonight. this time meg whitman and jerry brown looked each other square in the eye and tried to convince a sizeable number of voters that their plan could lead california to a better future. we re live at uc davis tonight where there was plenty of action before the debate began and surprisingly little when it was over. jean? reporter: tom, this was the first time brown and whitman laid out their plans to fix california, and their challanger was standing right there to respond. in some cases, to set the record straight. the candidates used their first meeting to define their governing strategy. if we are going to change the direction of the state, we re going to have to do it v