Ambassador Willie?
Mayor Brown, insiders say, has his own hidden agenda for the recall election

By Savannah Blackwell and Tim Redmond

Gov. Gray Davis is hardly the only politician in California worried about how the recall election will affect his career. Consider, for example, San Francisco mayor Willie Brown.

Brown, as the San Francisco Chronicle reported last week, summoned a group of political consultants to his office July 29 to discuss how the Democratic Party is responding to the recall. But while Brown has publicly insisted that he supports Davis and agrees no prominent Democrat should appear on the recall ballot, insiders tell us the mayor had a plan of his own – and saving Davis wasn't part of it.

The way some people who attended the meeting described it, Brown suggested that he'd like to see Sen. Dianne Feinstein run. His angle: Davis could lose, Feinstein could win – and then the new governor could appoint Brown to her old seat in the U.S. Senate. That would perfectly position Brown for the job his friends say he really wants: ambassador to France under the next Democratic presidential administration.

There are, of course, a few flaws in this scenario. For one thing, it's not at all clear that Feinstein wants to (or is willing to) run for governor. The senator is 70 years old, holds a powerful job in Washington D.C., and gets virtually no criticism from the press in her home state. She's immensely popular in California – and that would almost certainly change if she moved into the governor's office in a time of fiscal disaster. She travels frequently, enjoying the luxurious life with her wealthy husband, Richard Blum. Why would she want to give that up?

Of course, sources tell us, there are powerful Democrats at the highest levels, including some heavy-duty party donors, who are pushing hard to get Feinstein in the race, and insiders say the "save Gray Davis" solidarity is crumbling, fast. As one party observer put it, "What's in it for the rest of us?"

Even if Davis wins, he'll be an immediate lame duck, with little mandate and no ability to govern effectively. And a wounded Davis would only help the Republican Party's prospects in California over the next two years.

So Feinstein may, indeed, jump in at the last minute. But even if she were to become the next governor, Brown would probably be out of luck: Feinstein, we're told, has made no secret of the fact that she'd like to be succeeded in the Senate by another woman, and the most likely candidate is her friend Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Walnut Creek).

So it's too early to start looking for digs in D.C., Mr. Mayor. And you might want to wait a little longer before you turn the fedora in for a beret.

E-mail Savannah Blackwell and Tim Redmond