Mayor Newsom: Lieutenant Governor?

Just as quickly as it started, it appears that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's Governor run is coming to a close. According to Carla Marinucci at the SF Chronicle blog, Newsom isn't even coming close to raising the amount of money that former Governor Jerry Brown has, even through Brown hasn't officially declared himself to be a candidate (yet):

Brown supporters have been promoting the line that Newsom may have set his ambitions too high in taking on Brown, who has logged four decades in state politics. Newsom insiders, though, counter that this all started when Brown himself showed up to a 75th birthday party for the Mayor's dad -- and reportedly told the elder Newsom that Gavin should be running for Lt. Gov instead.

Ouch. Newsom's senior political consultant Garry South is dismissing the rumors as "political disinformation," but many in Newsom's staff have already left and that essential election medium, campaign cash, is running dry.

If Newsom really is doomed, then it is definitely a positive sign that this slick San Francisco statist won't be the top decision-maker in Sacramento, and Jerry Brown is definitely the lesser of these two Democratic evils. Brown has already served two-terms as Governor, which might be what California needs after an incompetent Gray Davis and an airhead actor.

California is in the midst of some compelling political drama. The Governor's seat is up for grabs, same-sex marriage proponents look to continue their good fight, and demographic shifts may shape the next election:

The profile of California's registered voters has dramatically changed over the past three decades, according to a Field Poll report being released today - and analysts say some of those "polarizing" shifts could reshape the 2010 governor's race as well as make it harder for the state to make changes to address its financial crises.

The shifts - particularly the rising number of nonpartisan voters - will force both Northern California progressives to run more toward the political center in the primary, analysts said.

While California's continuing financial crisis has some calling for changes to Proposition 13, the 1978 voter-approved measure which limits property tax increases, the comparatively large number of voters over 60 (28 percent) and homeowners (74 percent) make that unlikely.

This Field Report echos the sentiment of the fed-up voters in last May's special election, who are socially liberal, but who are also opening their eyes to the tax parasites and union leeches running the state into the ground.

The next year and a half will be very interesting.