Brown and Whitman Even in 2010 Gov. Race

State Attorney General Jerry Brown and business woman Meg Whitman are neck-and-neck as the race for California's governorship heats up, according to a poll released Thursday.

According to a Rasmussen poll conducted Tuesday, 41% of Californians polled say they would vote for Democratic hopeful Brown, and another 41% say they would vote for Whitman, the Republican candidate in the 2010 election.

Whitman supported Proposition 8, the divisive 2008 ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriages, reversing an earlier state supreme court decision. She said in February that she supports civil unions but not marriage equality. Whitman, a Presbyterian, called Proposition 8 a "matter of personal conscience and my faith."

As California attorney general, Brown pushed to invalidate Proposition 8, and he says he supports same-sex marriage. However, the state supreme court upheld the voter initiative after a hearing last spring.

The Courage Campaign announced in August that it would seek to put a ballot initiative to reinstate marriage equality up for a vote in 2010.

Brown fares better in polls where he is pitted against other Republican candidates, Steve Poizner and Tom Campbell. Brown is the only major Democrat running, since San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom announced last month that he was dropping out of the race.