Sacramento Bee: Bill Clinton's endorsement of Gavin Newsom a slap at Jerry Brown?

[marmar]

Clinton's endorsement of Newsom a slap at Brown?

By Jack Chang
[e-mail]

Published: Monday, Oct. 5, 2009


When former President Bill Clinton officially endorses San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom for governor today, the question on many people's minds will be: Is this about Newsom, or Jerry Brown?

Clinton and Brown's decades-long feud is, after all, one of the Democratic Party's nastiest, starting when they both sought the party's presidential nomination in 1992.

Seventeen years later, the former California governor has opened an exploratory committee for a possible gubernatorial run, and Clinton's endorsement has set off speculation about a redux of the fight.

Newsom discounted such talk in an interview with The Bee conducted shortly after the endorsement was announced last month. He said Clinton's endorsement some nine months before the primary showed the strength of the ex-president's support.

"I don't know that Bill Clinton is that petty," Newsom said. "This guy has been attacked not just by Jerry Brown but by the best of them. And I'm not sure he thinks about those things." .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/223072...

[Nikki Stone1]

1. Big Dog, you've just endorsed a loser.

How much do you love Ebay?

[msongs]

2. gavin n bill both cheated on their wives, they are soul mates lol nt

[NYC_SKP]

3. Of course it's a slap and it stinks of DLC type favoritism and bull shit.

I absolutely love Brown, and one of the reasons was his speaking truth to the condition of the Democratic Party while chair of the California "wing", which I imagine pisses off people like Bubba.

from wiki:

"In 1982, Brown chose not to seek a third term as Governor. Instead, he ran for the U.S. Senate for the seat being vacated by Republican S.I. Hayakawa. That year, his alleged mishandling of a medfly infestation of the state's fruit farms sent his approval ratings into a nosedive, and he was defeated by Republican San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson by a margin of 52% to 45%. Republican George Deukmejian, a Brown critic, narrowly won the governorship in 1982, succeeding Brown, and was reelected overwhelmingly in 1986. After his Senate defeat in 1982, many considered Brown's political career to be over. During the 1980s, Brown traveled to Japan to study Buddhism, studying with Christian/Zen practitioner Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle under Yamada Koun-roshi. He also visited Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India, where he ministered to the sick in one of her hospices.

Upon his return from abroad in 1988, he announced that he would stand as a candidate to become chairman of the California Democratic Party. Brown won the position in 1989 against the less experienced Steve Westly, who criticized Brown as the candidate of monied interests.
Brown experienced an abbreviated tenure that could best be described as controversial. He greatly expanded the party's donor base and enlarged its coffers, with a focus on grassroots organizing and get out the vote drives, but was criticized for not spending enough money on TV ads, which was felt to have contributed to Democratic losses in several close races in 1990. In early 1991, Brown abruptly resigned his post and announced that he would run for the Senate seat held by the retiring Alan Cranston. Although Brown consistently led in the polls for both the nomination and the general election, he quickly abandoned the campaign, deciding instead to run for the presidency for a third time."

Go Jerry!!!

[MzNov]

4. Newson was a big Hillary supporter

and he would be DLC type. We don't want him as Governor.

[corpseratemedia]

5. clinton's era is so over.

it was manic DLC hype filled with poison pills (nafta and bank deregulation)

people want someone who is honest and ethical and won't shaft the public with big lies. So Brown's the guy, not a clintonite.