Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, in his current role as columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle, reports that United States Senator Dianne Feinstein (herself a former SF mayor) is mulling over another run for governor in 2010. She lost a close race for that office in 1990, but since then her star in the Democratic Party and within state politics has risen to the ultimate heights, her terms in the United States Senate transforming her into an elder statesman. (I still say that had Al Gore put her on the ticket in 2000 he'd be finishing his second presidential term right now.)
But...she'll be 77 in 2010 and I think that will be quite the hindrance should she decide to go for it. State Attorney General (and former Governor) Jerry Brown is mulling over a run for the same office, but he'll be 72. Willie Brown thinks if Feinstein throws her hat in the ring Jerry will run for another term as AG.
That leaves the current San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom - young, handsome, and California's kind of liberal. Willie Brown thinks he'd defer to DiFi if she runs and then hope she'll appoint him to serve out the rest of her Senate term. I disagree. He could give Feinstein a run for her money in the Democratic primary. But would he be able to win over the conservative Democrats and independents of the Central Valley in the general election?
Good question. Only time will tell.
