Did Jerry Brown underperform in 2010?

[kwabbit]

It was a Republican wave year, and it was the last time the GOP made a serious effort to win a major statewide office.

The second part is an important point, though the Republican wave stopped in California. They didn't flip a single seat in the state, just as in 2014. 2006 was also a wave year and Arnie handily won reelection.

The GOP wave didn’t stop in California. CA swung about as much as the nation, it’s just that the Democrats had good candidates in Boxer and Brown and the incumbent protection map was durable. The GOP didn’t win the two close House races, but both were Lean Democratic prior to the night.

[kwabbit]

Not at all.  He won Del Norte County, something not done before [quite possibly since Brown 2.0] or since.

Brown had good WWC appeal. Whitman did well in suburban SoCal areas, winning OC by 19, SD by 5, and Ventura by 4, but Brown did better than Biden in most of non Bay/Sac NorCal.