California gubernatorial debate hits on 'whore' comment

(CNN) - A debate between California's gubernatorial candidates Tuesday night became heated after discussion turned to the use of the word "whore" by a staffer for the Democratic nominee.

In an inadvertently recorded conversation, a staffer for California Attorney General Jerry Brown called former eBay CEO Meg Whitman a "whore," implying that she had sold out to special interests.

Brown said Tuesday that he doesn't believe the word is as offensive as the "N-word," which drew an audible, exasperated response from Whitman.

After Brown reiterated his apology to Whitman, she echoed her previous response by saying "the people of California deserve better than slurs and personal attacks."

Brown asked Whitman if she'd reprimanded her campaign chairman, Pete Wilson, for calling Congress "such whores to public employees unions" in 1995.

"You know better than that, that's a completely different thing," Whitman responded. The audience seemed to disagree.

Brown said that he couldn't conduct an investigation into who exactly used the word, because "this is a five week old private conversation picked up on a cell phone with a garbled transmission, very hard to detect who it is."

A CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Sept. 29 indicates Brown holds a 52 to 43 point lead over Whitman among likely California voters.