The latest Field Poll shows that it’s all but over for Meg Whitman:

In the closing days of a very long campaign, Democrat Jerry Brown has opened up a ten-point lead – 49% to 39% – over Republican rival Meg Whitman. Another 5% of voters are favoring other candidates and 7% remain undecided.

The current poll finds Brown shoring up his support among women, non-partisans, Latinos and in Los Angeles County. In addition, despite heavy paid media presence of Whitman over the past year, she has been unable to appreciably increase the proportion of voters who view her favorably (42%). The proportion of voters who hold a negative opinion of her has grown to 51%, its highest level recorded.

Reread that second paragraph. Whitman trains among women, Latinos, independents, and in Los Angeles County. Clearly, she has totally failed to break out beyond her right-wing base, which represents a shrinking minority of California, and has no broad appeal across the majority of the electorate.

So how does Whitman respond to this? By making one last desperate bid for the mainstream of California politics?

Hah, no, that would be the smart move, and Whitman is not a smart politician. No, Whitman’s super secret plan to win the election is to further alienate Latinos and moderates by throwing her housekeeper overboard and chasing after her right-wing base:

As Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman tours parts of California that have traditionally been receptive to GOP candidates, she’s also appealing directly to conservative TV audiences, hoping to fire up her party’s base….

Until now she has declined to comment on whether the former housekeeper should be deported. But Wednesday, in an interview with Greta Van Susteren, Whitman answered the question head on. “Well, the answer is it breaks my heart, but she should be deported because she forged documents and she lied about her immigration status,” Whitman said. “And it breaks my heart. Gloria Allred pulled off a political stunt. And you know what? On Nov. 3, no one’s going to care about Nicky Diaz. But the law is the law and we live in the rule of law. It’s important.”

Whitman, who once called her housekeeper “a member of the family,” now wants her deported even though she’s lived in California for a very long time. Wow.

I don’t know what else needs to be said, except that Meg Whitman is not just a bad choice to lead California – she’s just a bad person, period. No wonder she has a 51% disapproval rating from Californians (according to today’s Field Poll).

Of course, it’s not just that Whitman is self-destructing through her right-wing extremism. Jerry Brown has confounded his critics by running an extremely effective, efficient, and clever campaign that has maximized their scarce resources. Brown’s TV ads in particular, such as the now-classic “Echo” ad, have been very effective for a low price. Brown’s online team has been doing excellent work, giving Brown over 1.1 million Twitter followers as opposed to Whitman’s 242,000.

More importantly, Brown understood that he could not win California without reaching out to its new progressive majority, and has been very effective at doing so. He provided a clear contrast to Whitman’s immigrant-bashing by making a clear moral argument in defense of immigrant rights – including the rights of the undocumented.

If Jerry Brown wins next Tuesday, it will be because he ran a good campaign that understood California is a diverse place that cannot stand the right wing – while Meg Whitman mistakenly thought she was running for governor of Texas.