SAN RAFAEL, CALIF. - Those who tuned in to Tuesday night's third and final debate in the hard-fought battle for California governor learned at least one thing about the candidates: These two people really don't like each other. 
 
 Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman unleashed a series of personal attacks that overshadowed their proposals for dealing with the problems of an economically depressed state whose government is barely functional. 
 
 Their most acidic exchange came over a recent revelation that someone in Brown's campaign had called Whitman a "whore" in a private conversation, inadvertently recorded when Brown was leaving a voice mail message for a union official. 
 
 Brown, the state's attorney general and a former governor, offered a tepid apology. He rejected a statement by moderator Tom Brokaw of NBC News that the term was akin to using a racial slur. 
 
 But Whitman, a former chief executive of eBay, insisted: "Every Californian - and especially women - know what's going on here." 
 
 Brown then attempted to turn the table by asking whether Whitman would apologize on behalf of one of her supporters, former California governor Pete Wilson, who referred to Congress as whores. Whitman insisted there was no comparison between the two incidents. 
 
 The sparring continued even after the hour-long debate at Dominican University. In post-debate remarks to reporters, Whitman said she had been "stunned by Governor Brown's insensitivity to what that word means to women." 
 
 Brown appeared soon after, and said, "I'd like Ms. Whitman to apologize to her housekeeper for something that I think is really insensitive" - a reference to the revelation that Whitman fired a longtime household employee who, she discovered, was in the country illegally. 
 
 But those were far from the only heated moments. Over and over again, Whitman portrayed Brown as an example of failed leadership and a politician who is beholden to public employee unions. Brown described Whitman - a first-time candidate who has poured nearly $140 million of her personal fortune into a campaign that has broken all spending records - as inexperienced in making government work. 
 
 When Whitman defended her proposal to eliminate the capital gains tax, saying that it was a barrier to investment and job creation, Brown demanded to know how much money Whitman - a billionaire - would save from such a move. 
 
 "I was a job creator. We have got to get someone in office who knows what the conditions are for small businesses to grow and thrive," she retorted. "Your business is politics. You've been doing this 40 years and you have been part of the war on jobs in this state for 40 years." 
 
 If there was one uplifting note from the night for Californians, it was probably this: There are only three more weeks to go before the end of this campaign. 

 
 
 Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown tussled over taxes, pensions and how to tackle the chronically imbalanced state budget in their final scheduled debate. 
 
 The third debate between the two candidates was a freewheeling discussion full of personal attacks, with moderator Tom Brokaw trying to rein in the candidates and an audience that frequently burst in with applause. Perhaps the sharpest exchanges came over a recent recording of someone on Brown’s campaign calling Whitman a “whore” during an endorsement phone call. 
 
 The two candidates repeated their campaign themes in the hour-long debate at Dominican University of California in San Rafael. 
 
 “It will be the same old same old,” Whitman said of a potential Brown governorship. 
 
 Brown cast Whitman as a candidate for the wealthy, challenging her at one point to detail how she would personally benefit from her plan to slash the state’s capital gains tax. 
 
 “How much money will you save?” Brown asked pointedly. 
 
 But the sparks were brightest in a question Brokaw asked Brown, about the recording on which someone on his campaign called Whitman a “whore” for her attempts to garner a union endorsement. 
 
 Brown began by dismissing the recording, calling it a “5-week-old private conversation” before eventually offering a half-hearted apology to Whitman for the “garbled transmission.” 
 
 She didn’t accept it. “It’s not just me but the people of California who deserve better than slurs,” Whitman said. 
 
 The remark, she said, was “not befitting of the office you are running for.” 
 
 The two also tangled over the recent revelations that Whitman’s former maid of nine years is an illegal immigrant. 
 
 Brown said Whitman's firing of Nicandra Diaz Santillan was "kind of a sorry tale," noting that "after nine years, she didn't even get her a lawyer." 
 
 Whitman called for an "e-verify system" to make sure the documents presented by immigrants are valid. 
 
 The candidates also sparred over and over regarding the role of unions in the state. Whitman said it would be a “fairy tale” to believe Brown could confront them after they’ve spent so much on his campaign. Brown said his long record shows an ability to negotiate with anyone and everyone. 
 
 “I’ve been in the kitchen, I’ve taken the heat,” he said, accusing Whitman of being in the bleachers. 
 
 The Tuesday showdown was the final debate of the gubernatorial campaign, but not the last time Whitman and Brown are scheduled to share a stage before the Nov. 2 election. They are set to appear together, along with the man they seek to replace, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, at the Women’s Conference in Long Beach on Oct. 26, in a conversation moderated by NBC’s Matt Lauer. 
 
 Debate moderator Tom Brokaw of NBC, who arrived on stage on crutches before the television broadcast began, had one of the best lines of the evening, though TV viewers missed it. 
 
 "It's kind of a metaphor for California. We're both broken for the moment," he said of his hobbled state, before adding: "The difference is, I hope to be repaired by the first of the year." 
 
 -- Shane Goldmacher and Anthony York in San Rafael, Calif. 
 
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 Live coverage: All the topics during Tuesday night's debate 
 
 Sparks fly over 'whore' comment 
 
 Debate question on immigration
– For a state teetering on the edge of collapse, the final debate in the battle for California governor was long on mud-slinging and short on solutions to the state's problems. Meg Whitman attacked Jerry Brown for an aide who apparently described her as a whore. The Democrat offered a halfhearted apology before going on the counterattack, bringing up what he called the "sorry tale" of Whitman's firing of her illegal maid, the Los Angeles Times reports. Brown painted Whitman as a political novice seeking to make millionaires richer at the expense of schools, while the Republican painted her rival as an example of failed leadership. "Your business is politics. You've been doing this 40 years and you have been part of the war on jobs in this state for 40 years," she told him. For Californians, one thing is clear, the Washington Post notes: "These two people really don't like each other."