Exit Stage Left - Thoughts on Gavin's Departure

Constant Readers,

All the good shit seems to happen when I'm out of town. A few hours ago, I got about a dozen text messages telling me Gavin quit the race to be California's next governor. (Many thanks to everyone who thought to tell me!)

Honestly, I'm very surprised. I knew there were rumors out there, but no one (least of all me) seemed to be able to substantiate them. 

My friends out here on the East Coast don't care about any of this, so now that they are crashed out for the night, here are some thoughts:

1) Back on September 15, iloveyougavinnewsom.com wrote that "anonymous sources say that there will be an 'I am quitting the governor’s race so I can spend more time with my family' press release, sometime this fall." Damn. I mean: DAMN! Those guys are good. If that site says you're gonna get hit by a bus, just call into work and get back under the covers.

2) I wonder if Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi will stop demanding information about the cost of Gavin's security detail while out on the campaign trail now? I asked, but haven't heard back yet. Shockingly, Ross has better things to do with his Friday nights than answer my emails. 

3) Will Gavin hafta give all the money back? No.

According to the most recent filings, NEWSOM FOR CALIFORNIA - GOVERNOR 2010 has raised about $3 million dollars. (That number only includes contributions up to June 30, 2009 - so any recent money from Clinton's support, etc., isn't included.) Those filings also show that he had spent about $2.2 million of that money.

With that unspent money, he can either can (a) use it for another state or local (but not federal) race, (b) give it to charities (which I hear is what he did with the money left over from his earlier Supe races), (c) give it to ballot measures or other candidates, or (d) a combo of the above.

4) Will he run for Lt. Governor? All the folks I know who know him say "No." They all say he's too interested in a job that will allow him to continue policy-making, and Lt. Gov. won't allow that kind of fun. Then again, these are the same people who said he wouldn't drop out of the race, so what the hell do they know?

5) Jerry Brown is it? And also: Yay?

I'm still not sure what to think of this man. Each time I've seen him speak, he rambles on like a crazy person. I'm relatively new to California, so I don't remember him losing to Carter, Clinton or Pete Wilson, or winning races for speaker, governor, mayor and attorney general. But in this age of YouTube and Flip Phones, etc., I wonder if Brown's cavalier manner of speaking will lead to his own "Like it or Not" moment.

Have a great weekend, y'all! There's supposed to be more news related to this issue coming out on Sunday. 

-Melissa

Comments

[Jerry Only NOT]

DiFi. And as for ILYGN.com, everyone knows that the site is a vanity project by someone who would be at least fired and quite possibly jailed for authoring that site while holding the job they hold. Wake up.

[Melissa Griffin]

JON - Thanks so much for writing! Honestly though, I don't see why it makes any difference who runs ILYGN. If they want to risk their job, that's none of my business. I'm just giving credit where credit is due to the folks who said it first.

[vansmack]

As long as we're speculating: Jane Harman. She's accomplished all that she can in Congress as it's fairly well known that she and Pelosi do not do the mani/pedi thing, she was passed over by the Obama Administration for a post, and she knows how well a Democrat with name recognition in the south can run in a primary. Add to that fact that she has coffers to compare to Whitman (well, actually Whitman is worth twice as much at $1.1B) it would certainly set records on the richest campaign in history.

[vansmack]

Mel - thanks for writing about it. I have no idea what possessed you to write while on your vacation...

Anyhow, when labor endorsed a candidate who wasn't even running (Brown) earlier in the week, they let Newsom know his campaign was unwelcome. I also found it odd that Garry South said that Campbell would make a great Governor adding "you can quote me on that" - the writing was on the wall.

There's going to be a lot of questions asked by the campaign folks as to why their Obama Blueprint wasn't working and I think it comes down to one thing - no common enemy. While there were certainly enough Dems out there that would prefer Newsom to Brown, there aren't a lot of Dems out there who dislike Brown (unlike Obama running against Clinton). That's why he couldn't raise the money and despite South's efforts to make an enemy out of Brown (albeit slight), the Dems in CA were not going to allow for a repeat of Westley vs Angelides.

[generic]

... in this age of YouTube and Flip Phones, etc., I wonder if Brown's cavalier manner of speaking will lead to his own "Like it or Not" moment

It already has.

He just destroys the flip phone.

[Mad Dog]

I feel like there should be some dirt by now. What's up with our intrepid blogger?

[Melissa Griffin]

@vansmack - I didn't know about the South comment about Campbell! Thanks so much for your excellent ideas about the campaign and potential candidate Harman. I really hope Brown isn't all by himself as the Dem nominee.

@generic - Whoa - nice memory! What a GREAT link! Thank you!

@Mad Dog - I've talked to several people VERY close to this and have got some ideas about why this happened, but sadly I haven't heard anything scandalous. Unsurprisingly, folks aren't eager to leak anything juicy to a blogger.

[The Gay Species]

Goodriddence to Mayor Airhead. It does raise the question of Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown, who in the 1970s was an apostle of E. F Schumacher's "Small is Beautiful," which is ironic for governor of the nation's largest state. He always seems to be his own Pied Piper.

If nominated, he cannot win. He has name recognition, but many Californians remember the former governor cum mayor cum attorney general, who lacked the smarts of his sister Kathleen, and the arrogance of his father Edmund "Pat" -- for whom the great environmental disaster known as the California Aquaduct is affectionately named.

But whoever runs against "Moonbeam" won't need to do too much "negative campaigning," just a polite reminder that all three of Moonbeams' Supreme Court appointments were recalled in 1988. Many remember his allowing federal funds to finish part of I-580, only to pave over the lanes. He thought it was "small of himself," but it only contributed to air pollution.

During the 1970s Drought Brown allowed Southern California to rape the Northern California resources. Since I expect the eminently qualified Tom Campbell to be his opponent, the former Bay Area congressman, Stanford economics professor, and most liberal candidate in view, will likely help voters recall the wonderful Moombeam "small is beautiful" years, when the mantra was, "if yellow, let it mellow; if brown, flush it down." That's how Moonbeam handles a drought.

[Truff]

Gavin Newsom is our own Sarah Palin: Style over substance and, now, utterly unelectable...