Doesn't anybody here know how to run this state?By Tim Redmond
Well, the polls look pretty shitty for Gavin Newsom For Governor (thanks, sfist for the tip), and his ratings will just get worse as he attempts to solve a budget crisis without working with the supervisors or the other key stakeholders. At this rate, the way he's treating the city employee unions, there's no way he's getting labor support, and for a candidate who will be running as a liberal to be shunned by labor is a major problem.
(And if he thinks a movie-star wife will give him some glam, check out the reviews.)
And Newsom's counterpart to the south, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, ain't looking so hot right now.
John Garamendi has been reborn as a progressive populist, but a guy who was at best a moderate state legislator is going to have his work cut out for him wooing the left in a primary. And Jerry Brown ... well, Jer's on the right side of the same-sex marriage debate (finally), but he was a terrible mayor of Oakland and has changed his political spots so many times that nobody knows quite which Jerry we'll get this time around -- or whether his current manifestation will last.
Is this really the best the Democratic Party can do?
I guess we should be glad that the Republicans have an even worse lineup. But that's not exactly something to celebrate.
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Comments (4)
Amen to that. It's a terrible field. I saw one of Kos' handicapping polls on the race and had the same thought....is the the best we can do? An astroturf mayor against a pseudo progressive against governor-cum-mayor-cum-AG-cum-retread moonbeam? When the Dead Kennedys write a song about you, that probably means you're doing the public a disservice.
For one of the more left-leaning states in the union, you'd think we could find some better candidates to field...of all ideological stripes. But alas, California's statewide office races are big money affairs, and the same old pay-to-play rules apply in the state that sent Reagan and Nixon to Washington.
Posted by Joe | March 4, 2009 06:47 PM
Vote for and endorse the Green Party. I'm sure that's what the Guardian and its writers were planning on doing anyway - at least after they tried (and failed, as they always do) to force the Dems to dance to their beat.
Posted by Shane | March 4, 2009 10:18 PM
Change Candidate Wanted For California (www.ccwc.wordpress.com) is asking the same question, "Is this really the best the Democratic Party can do?"
We have begun a search to find a candidate to deliver Sacramento into the "new" politic. The polls that came out today and yesterday make clear there are plenty of voters looking for better answers to the state's challenges than those offered by the named candidates so far. So are we.
We learned well during the Obama campaign, how to bring about change. We are building a similar grassroots movement member by member in all California neighborhoods, OC included.
We delivered a president. Now we need a governor. Oorganization and fundraising through the internet make this an opportunity like none before to change California for good. We welcome you and your readers to join us and air your ideas on who best to lead the Democrats to victory in 2010.
Posted by cy street | March 5, 2009 02:46 PM
Shane -
You'll get no argument from me there. I'm a registered Green, and have been actively involved in Green campaigns over the past decade. Our party has offered up some great candidates, and it'll probably be my electoral refuge in 2010. But I don't see the Greens winning statewide office just yet. We know the Dems won't run anyone acceptable to progressives, even with recruiting efforts like the one cy describes. Like we often say: The Democratic Party is still the place where social movements go to die.
That said, there's a bit of encouragement that we have a slightly progressive Dem as President. We need to keep pressing for good candidates of all stripes at the grassroots level...and we need to keep pushing for true electoral change that makes 3rd parties a viable and integral part of governing. That'll make the Dems better, it'll allow us Greens to have more of a say, and it'll bring better representation...even for those who we disagree with.
Posted by Joe | March 5, 2009 08:13 PM