When Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took himself out of the running for governor Monday, he boosted – perhaps inadvertently – Jerry Brown's chances for a gubernatorial comeback.
Villaraigosa, considered to be a front-rank contender for the governorship had he run, declared on a national television news program that he was opting out of the race to concentrate on Los Angeles' problems. "I can't leave this city in the middle of a crisis," Villaraigosa, who is about to begin his second mayoral term, told CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer.
Brown, a former two-term governor (1975-83) who is now attorney general, was already leading the Democratic field a year before his party chooses a nominee, even though he hasn't formally announced. And Villaraigosa's departure leaves Brown with just one impediment to the nomination, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.
It promises to be a generational battle between Brown, the one-time political wunderkind who is now 71, and Newsom, who is 41 and best known as an advocate of gay marriage rights.
The two rivals are already sniping at each other, albeit politely and through surrogates, and their generational conflict is magnified by the close, decades-long relationship between the Brown and Newsom families.
Newsom's grandfather was the best friend of and chief political fundraiser for Brown's father, the late Gov. Pat Brown. Jerry Brown has been close to Newsom's father, appointing him to two judicial positions during his governorship.
Although Brown was mayor of Oakland for a couple of terms, he has long-standing political roots in Los Angeles. He lived there for many years and was close to the city's wealthy, politically active entertainment and finance community centered on the city's western side, especially the political organization headed by Congressmen Henry Waxman and Howard Berman.
Brown also has decades-long ties to the state's Latino leadership. He appointed several high-profile Latinos during his governorship, including a state Supreme Court justice, and championed the cause of the United Farm Workers Union and its late leader, Cesar Chavez, by pushing a historic farm labor relations law through the Legislature.
Meanwhile, a recent Los Angeles Times poll indicated, Newsom faces a steep climb in gaining supporters in Southern California, in part because of a regional rivalry between Los Angeles and San Francisco that has simmered for many decades and involves business, politics and sports.
Newsom is clearly hoping that younger voters who registered and turned out for Barack Obama last year will translate into a powerful and permanent new Democratic bloc that his relative youth and his efforts on behalf of gay marriage rights will attract.
However, Villaraigosa's pullout, plus that of Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, dash Newsom's hopes for a crowded field that would make his Bay Area base more powerful. He's now playing catch-up.
Call The Bee's Dan Walters, (916) 321-1195. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/walters.
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