Breaking: Gavin Newsom Has Quit Race For California Governor

he could have waited a day

Looks like Jerry Brown has some problems as well, something about taping reporters' calls. Of course, in the long run this controversy is simply going into a list of "gotchas" going back to when he went into state politics in the early 1970s.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/...

Gavin's having a busy day. Bay Bridge closed indefinitely and now there's another oil spill on the Bay.

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by: coram nobis @ Fri Oct 30, 2009 at 18:29:49 PM CDT

Gavin Newsom....is hardly a LGBT hero in CA.....

Not after losing Prop H8 for us via reruns of his famous pronouncement at City Hall.

It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.

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by: Orion45 @ Fri Oct 30, 2009 at 18:43:17 PM CDT

Excuuuuuuuuuussse me!

"...didn't have that extra something to catch the imagination of the rest of the Democratic base here"????

It was what he did have that was the problem...the albatross...in the state where more than half of the voters just trashed marriage equality...of having been the person who risked his political career to actually ignite that battle. Remember when Messiah for the Gays Obama wouldn't even be photographed with him at a fundraiser FOR OBAMA's US Senate campaign that GAVIN organized? Remember when both his mentor Sen. Feinstein and GAY Barney Frank publicly pilloried him for it? Remember how four years later the Party was still punishing him for it [and for publicly calling them political cowards] by keeping him conspicuosly off the televised plaftorm at the 2008 Democratic National Convention?

I wouldn't call Jerry "I was against marriage equality before I was for it" Brown being ahead "catch[ing] the imagination." He simply caught the bouquet thrown by straight Dems still uncomfortable with sharing their breeder privilege with Les Gays while wearing the former governor, son-of-former-governor household name house dress.

Pity California when the Moonbeam shines over the governor's mansion again.

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by: Michael Bedwell @ Fri Oct 30, 2009 at 18:43:51 PM CDT

Seems unlikely

Newsom's problem was he couldn't raise any money, in or outside San Francisco, before or after prop. 8 (he formed his exploratory committee last July). This wasn't a problem with appealing to the 52% of the state that voted for prop. 8, this was a problem with finding supporters and with his existing local supporter base collapsing-- in other words, a problem with connecting with people on his own side. SF locals are surely not going to be withholding support based on support for gay marriage? So it seems to me a more likely source of problems would be questions about his performance (or what effects a gubernatorial run would be expected to have on his performance) on local issues in his job as mayor...

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by: mcc @ Fri Oct 30, 2009 at 19:23:58 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

money? maybe not

Gavin could have raised enough money; the Prop. 8 flap meant that at least he was better-known than he would have been otherwise. And he had Bill Clinton's endorsement -- he's still popular in CA.

Jerry Brown is better known, and has a lot more statewide contacts, that's true, so money wasn't a problem with him. But 40 years in CA politics does leave a lot of "gotchas" for oppo research.

(Fun fact: Gavin remembered, while a toddler, sitting on Jerry's knee. They were both from prominent San Francisco families, so it was probable. Would have been an interesting factoid for a gubernatorial history, which is now what-might-have-been.)

(Another fun fact: Gavin's ex-wife, Kimberly Guilfoyle, is now on Fox News. If his departure means lower Fox ratings, well, that's probably for the best. Ah, what might have been.)

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by: coram nobis @ Fri Oct 30, 2009 at 19:51:55 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Uh, not quite...

"They were both from prominent San Francisco families"....well, not in financial terms, and I only nit pick because of the persisting myth spun by his original opponent for mayor that Newsom was "born with a silver spoon" in his mouth when, after his parents divorced when he was two, his mother, due to how bad their father was with money, had to work three jobs to help support her two kids who eventually worked, too.

His financial success came in adulthood, growing out of intelligence and a close friendship with the investment-minded Gordon Gettys.

Nor even in notoriety terms. While Jerry's father was an extremely popular two-term CA governor, Gavin's father was only a state appellate judge.

Add Moonbeam's er Jerry's own eight years of notoriety as governor, four years as Secretary of State, and three years as Attorney General....fifteen years of building political indebtedness, not to mention name-recognition building repeated runs for President and....outside of San Francisco...Gavin started and stayed well-behind.

While it seems rumors Feinstein might run are now just that, if nothing else it would be fun to see her wipe the floor with Jerry's arrogant face.

Again, if he's elected, the Golden State will continue to turn to brass.

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by: Michael Bedwell @ Fri Oct 30, 2009 at 20:23:01 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

um, no.

I said 'prominent,' not necessarily born rich.

As for Jerry Brown, I might say that he did leave the state with a budget surplus, while the cowboy actor he replaced, for all the talk about austerity, left a debt. He also managed to get through being Mayor of Oakland -- Oakland! -- without getting into the messes that his successor, Ron Dellums, did. No small achievement to have kept his skirts clean.

As for the second picture you posted, that is the wedding of Del Martin and Phillis Lyon, lesbian activists from the early 1950s. If anybody deserved to go to the front of the marriage line, they did, and Ms. Lyon died two months after this, in August 2008. I fail to see how this picture was anything but a nice reflection on Gavin's humanity. He might not have been much of a mayor, but this was a good moment. Don't knock it.

The coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco.
-- Mark Twain

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by: coram nobis @ Fri Oct 30, 2009 at 21:45:59 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm disappointed...

I support Jerry Brown, but my boyfriend and his dad were really excited to vote for Gavin Newsom. We even got in some debates. I guess I'm sad that they won't be able to vote for him now.

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by: Blanco @ Fri Oct 30, 2009 at 19:52:20 PM CDT

Part 3?

I wonder if Jello Biafra will now come up with a third version of "California Uber Alles"?

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Fri Oct 30, 2009 at 21:44:57 PM CDT