The only real question regarding the cancellation of the big radio debate between California gubernatorial candidates — Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman — is: which one was the bigger chicken?

The debate had been announced months ago, and was scheduled Tuesday at 10 a.m. with longtime Bay Area broadcaster (and tough questioner) Ronn Owens — who last week won the National Association of Broadcasters’ prestigous Marconi Award for being the nation’s best major market talk show host.

Both the Whitman and the Brown campaigns say it was “by mutual consent” and have suggested to us that the debate was never really finalized.

Right.

We just talked to Owens’ longtime producer Mark Silverman, a total pro in the business — who is stunned by the recent developments.

“Whitman’s people suggested the date,” and even had talked about expanding the format to make it 90 minutes; and the Brown team went along with it the date, he said. Media credentials and arrangements had long been announced.

Today, it’s clear “both sides wanted to get out of it,” he said.

Silverman got word both Brown and Whitman were backing out on Friday, before the two candidates even debated in Fresno; it came through a joint call from Sterling Clifford, Brown’s spokesman, and Rob Stutzman, Whitman’s senior advisor, Silverman said.

So what really went on?

We can only speculate, but here’s some of what we know:

*Owens is no pushover. He would have asked tough questions of both sides. And then there’s his audience: getting unpredictable questions from the real voting public — as Ronn’s show delivers — is something both candidates would rather avoid at this point.

*Whitman promised Owens, on the air, to debate State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner on his show before the June GOP primary; she never made good on that promise. Silverman says that the Whitman team kept assuring him not to worry, she would absolutely debate on the show for the general election. Looks like that will never happen either.

*Whitman was having a tough week in the wake of the Nicky Diaz story last week, and faced only more questions Tuesday on the matter.

*Brown hadn’t yet delivered his performance in the Saturday debate, which was widely seen as bad night for Whitman. But clearly, he didn’t want to take questions from Owens either — why? Remember all his talk about wanting every opportunity to debate Meg Whitman? Uh, maybe not.

This was to be the third in a series between California’s two gubernatorial candidates, and the only one scheduled for radio.

Who loses?

The California voters.

What we’ve learned from this: both Brown and Whitman, who both say they have the fortitude to run the great state of California, kicked a rare opportunity to discuss issues in a setting where their answers wouldn’t actually be limited to 60 seconds, and they might have real back-and-forth — a real debate! — with a tough broadcaster and actual voters on the air.