Who should run for Lantos' seat?
Newsom, Leno, Kopp -- it's a wide open field
The current field may not be thrilling, but potentially there are so many good choices.
Remember: Under the Constitution, you don't actually have to live in the district to get elected to Congress (you just have to live in the state). And it would be easy for a lot of promeninent San Franciscans to move there, anyway. Let's start the list:
Gavin Newsom. He's not doing such a great job as mayor, but he'd be a fine member of Congress. It would get him out of town, let him hobnob with Washington society, Jen would love it ... and if he won, Aaron Peskin would become mayor. Can't beat that.
Or: Mark Leno. First openly gay member of Congress from the Bay Area. A lifetime job for a guy who loves politics and never wants to leave office. Instead of running against Carole Migden, he could be the class of the Congressional race.
Or: Peskin. What the hell; he's termed out next year and has nothing to do. And just imagine him in Washington.
Or: Quentin Kopp. He's not a young man, but he's heathy and as energetic as ever -- and even as a junior member, he'd put the fear of God in Nancy Pelosi.
Or: Matt Gonzalez. He could skip the primary, let the Dems all beat each other bloody then run in the general as a Green.
Who else? Let's get the list going.
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Comments (7)
Tim,
Has your political standards (at the national level) sunk so low that you would hypocritically think that Gavin Newsom would be "a fine member of Congress"? Do you have such a short-memory that you would forget that almost every week you excoriate that guy. You disillusion me. Your type of mindset and low-expectations is what allowed our representatives to get us into Iraq in the first place. Do you actually think that Ichabod would be much different from that bug-eyed Pelosi? Good grief. Gain some self-respect and fucking stand up for yourself.
Posted by expatriate | January 2, 2008 06:46 PM
Compared to most of the US Congress, Newsom would be fine. And he'd be out of San Francisco. I don't have much hope for Congress anyway; I think the future of America lies in cities, and I'd rather have Newsom in Congress and a progressive mayor.
Posted by tim redmond | January 2, 2008 08:02 PM
Already running.
BARRY HERMANSON. Green Party: barry@barryhermanson.org.
Posted by Patrick Monk.RN | January 3, 2008 09:33 AM
The greens have nothing to say of consequence at this point, so talk of Magical Matt running is just silly. He couldn't get it up to run for Mayor after all those stupid laws were passed (IRV , public financing, etc.) to help him win - why would anyone in San Mateo County vote for a flake like him?
As for Barry, well the less said the better. The Greens' candidate in 2004 was a belligerent anti-Semite who couldn't contain her self in attacking Rep. Lantos upon hearing the news - once again the Greens (the party that took money from Blackwater) show themselves to be the intellectual and political midgets they are. Barry Hermanson? Please. The guy's a perennial loser who needs to find a new line of work.
I will vote for any good Democrat that hails from San Mateo County, if only to show the pwogwessives that their failures in San Francisco to stand up for working people needs to be punished fully, so that they learn from their mistakes and move on. Otherwise, this kind of political wanking will just enhance the power of those who will sit on their ass and do nothing in Congress.
Posted by greg dewar | January 3, 2008 06:42 PM
Why was my second post censored?
Posted by expatriate | January 3, 2008 07:00 PM
I think the attitude of Tim and most of the Guardian's political staff is that if the Green Party can't win in San Francisco, despite them doing everything in their power to slant elections towards the "progressive" side, then maybe they can foist off their perennial losers to us in the 12th District.
Think again - there is no way, ever, a Green Party candidate can win this district. A Republican would win before a Greenie.
And frankly it's offensive but entirely within character for the Guardian to foist carpetbagger candidates off on us. After all - The Guardian always thinks it knows best.
Posted by Shane | January 3, 2008 09:21 PM
Geez, some of you are awfully touchy over some random speculation in a blog entry. I wouldn't exactly interpret this as any kind of major endorsement of a Gonzalez in the 12th, though I agree that he probably couldn't win. None of the other candidates save maybe Kopp live in the district either, but you all are instantly bitching about the Green to the exclusion of everyone else.
Posted by Greg | January 3, 2008 10:32 PM