In today’s Willie Brown column, Willie praises Gavin Newsom for “having the courage” to drop out of the race, he speaks that which the Chronicle’s news section, as well as the LA Times, refuses to admit is a possibility: there just might be another candidate on the Democratic side.
But it is absolutely necessary for a politician to have that type of courage if he wants a long career. And make no mistake, Newsom still has a future. He is still a tremendous communicator.
Although Attorney General Jerry Brown comes out the early winner in Newsom’s withdrawal, I have to believe there are many Democrats out there who still say, “Can’t we find someone with a newer paint job?”
Two names have already popped up: Rep. Jane Harman, D-Venice (Los Angeles County), and Maria Shriver. (SF Chronicle 11/1/09)
For a few weeks these rumors have been going about. There a number of reasons for this, the big one being that there is money sitting out of this race. This is more than just your normal money sitting out of the race for economic reasons, but some typical players that didn’t take a side. That could have been that they were leaning away from Brown and weren’t sure about how long Newsom could survive. Or that Newsom wasn’t able to extract money and just tried for the second best and asked people to hold off on giving money to Brown.
Jerry Brown has a lot of inherent advantages in the race, yet he’s certainly not unbeatable. Brown coould yet lose to a well-funded candidate, especially if that well-funded candidate was a minority, a woman, or a combination of the two. Harman carries baggage with the base, and the word on the street is that she may not be able to self-finance her campaigns going forward. Shriver carries some baggage of her own, prinicipally from being married to a rather poor governor.
But those two names are not the only two taking a look at the calculus of the 2010 governor’s race. If I were to be putting odds on somebody else getting into the race, I think I’d peg it at slightly better than even money, maybe 60%.
Harman and Shriver are the two best alternates we as Democrats can come up with to Jerry Brown?
Man, what in the world is going on when we can’t get a decent governor candidate?
I dream of a day when both parties can run a smart, no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is candidate and actually have a chance of winning.
Is our bench really that shallow? With all apologies to both people, we’re supposed to get excited about a Blue Dog and the wife of one of the worst governor’s in our history?
Aside from being married to a very poor governor, Maria Shriver opposes new taxes for social services.
When the governor was first elected, there was hope that Maria might have a progressive influence on him. Instead, she was quoted in the Sacramento Bee as saying that we just can’t afford more money for social services right now.
More recently when the budget deliberations were going on, I saw her on the television news. In response to a question about the devastating cuts to social services, her reply was that it’s unfortunate that her husband is governor during an economic crisis.
I really resent her focus on women’s accomplishments, when so many of our sisters are out on the streets. We can afford increased social services, we cannot afford Maria Shriver.
No. Just no. There must be other candidates.
…an established pol who has done more already for the citizens of this state than any other governor in the last 40 years and we got whine with our cheese.
Maybe if you would find out a little more about Jerry other than what the Reich Wing would have you believe, Lake County…recorded phone conversations…improper tax policy…yeah, right, you might get a little more enthusiastic but…
…prolly not.
… either Jackie Speier or Sheila Kuehl?
The idea of Maria or Jane is repugnant.
I am old enough to have actually been in the work force when Jerry was Governor so I remember him well. Best Governor we ever had? Nope. Give that accolade to Hiram Johnson and/or Jerry’s dad. A good Governor though? Yep. And one who can think outside of the box, which is what we need right now.
I agree with the comment in the other thread that a contested primary is good for the state — at least in the abstract. But Jerry is just fine as far as I am concerned; although he’ll frustrate a lot of the people on both the right and the left, because he really does not fall into either camp completely.
Warren Beatty? We could have used him more in 2006, but maybe Bulworth might be our best bet.
i remember hearing random speculation about loretta sanchez perhaps running for senate; might she step up for governor?
man, i wish garamendi had stayed in the goddamn race.
Reich strikes me as the perfect person to run as the progressive alternative to Brown.
He’s one of the only people in the state who already has the name recognition to jump in this late in the game. He endorsed Obama in the primaries which might mean he’d be able to tap into the Obama campaigns establishment. He’s also clearly connected to the Clintons and, while his endorsement of Obama and criticism of Hilary’s campaign might have burnt and few bridges, Bill and Hilary’s distaste for Brown should be enough to rebuild those bridges. He has strong experience as one of Times Magazine’s ten best cabinet secretaries of the century and is an economist (Wall Street Journal rated him America’s 6th greatest business thinker) which should be great in this economic crisis. Additionally, because he is an academic, not a politician, he would benefit from being the dark horse, underdog of the race, something the media always loves.
The only possible negative is that he ran for Governor of Massachusetts in 2002. That said, no one can accuse him of moving to California for political reasons, we all know he got a job teaching at Cal. We also learned in the CA10 primary that people really don’t care where the candidate is from as long as they can get the job done which Reich clearly can do.
Jerry Brown in trouble after appearance in San Bernardino County
by Sam H. Clauder II, 909-496-4310, [email protected]
Oct. 9, 2009
SAN BERNARDINO – Attorney General and undeclared Gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown encountered strong opposition from local advocates for his appearance as the guest of honor at a campaign fundraiser for San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos two weeks ago.
[CLIP]
When Brown’s period of years when he was not registered as a Democrat and questionable accomplishments as Mayor of Oakland are added to the mix, many Democrats are so dissatisfied with their Gubernatorial choices being limited to Brown and Newsom they have begun to seek another candidate to run.
so enough with the pranks
i can’t believe that anyone seriously thinks either of these tools could win, let alone ought to…