Just watched the Bill Maher video. He suggests Gavin Newsom would be a great . . .

[brush]

Last edited Tue Dec 20, 2016, 09:37 PM - Edit history (1)

candidate in 2020. Anyone have thoughts on that?

And what about Antonio Villaraigosa, another Dem from California?

[hrmjustin]

1. I don't think he will play well in middle America.

I like him but I am not sure he could win the Electoral College.

[MFM008]

29. Apparently

He needs to grab more pussies to appeal to middle class rust belt types......

[bettyellen]

60. Can we please stop repeating sexist trash here as if it's normal talk for Dems?

It's alienating and unless you're quoting him, contributing to the denigration of women.
Thank you!

[Warren DeMontague]

61. Middle America supprts the issues Newsom leads on, in poll after poll.

It is our beltway east coast conventional wisdom cowardice crowd that is out of touch.

[hrmjustin]

64. Look I would vote for him but I am not sure what middle America wants anymore.

He seems too polished.

[Rex]

73. Spot on.

I guess we can all die off, anything but changing the status quo.

[Warren DeMontague]

74. Tim Kaine 2020

Boy, I'm excited already.

[bravenak]

76. LOL

[Rex]

77. LOL!

[GeorgeGist]

2. If he wins the Governorship in 2018 ...

and California continues to progress while most of the country regresses under Trump, then I think he will be awesome.

[flamingdem]

58. this! California will lead the way

[yuiyoshida]

67. Yup!!

[Pachamama]

3. I have personally known Gavin since the late 80's and before his political career..

I think Gavin will be a great Governor of California and In the future a great President with Jennifer his wife as First Lady.



But it might be 2024, not 2020

[Auggie]

4. Can we PLEASE consider candidates besides those on the coast?

Sure, Newsome would be a great choice for CALIFORNIANS and NEW YORKERS. I don't think he'd play well in the Middle America. And the South would depise him.

I'll leave it to the DNC whom to groom for the spot. Maybe Roy Cooper of North Carolina? Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio?

Someone HAS TO EMERGE from the middle of America.

[Wounded Bear]

5. You mean like Trump?

Let's find the best people, wherever they come from. Since "middle America" has gone red, where is said person to emerge from?

[Auggie]

8. Oh, like Hillary Clinton wasn't "the best people?"

Like, she wasn't the most QUALIFIED candidate to run in DECADES?

You know goddamn well I don't mean Trump. What are you trying to prove?

[Wounded Bear]

13. You missed the point...

Red America voted for Trump, who was hardly someone from "middle America."

I'm trying to "prove" that focusing too much on regional issues doesn't help. Obviously, given the Clinton results, "best qualified" doesn't seem to matter much either. I will continue to vote for progressives, because I don't see any conservatives being qualified in the near future. It won't matter much to me where said candidate originates.

[Eliot Rosewater]

27. This is a GREAT point and I had not thought of this that way, thank you for that.

So the argument is if only we had a Midwestern nice white guy candidate we could win.

Donald Trump is the furthest opposite of that of anyone.

There was just something about Trump they liked, now WHAT could that be....

[Alekzander]

55. There you go; same thoughts here.

[brush]

6. Why exclude the largest state?

We just won the popular vote.

The election results had nothing to do with California or New York it had to do with repug cheating, hacking, vote suppression and tampering.

That's what we have to stop.

I'm not opposed to others emerging but not considering candidates from large states where most of the people and electoral votes are seem like tying one arm behind our backs.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. lol these people voted for trump

And he's from a gold palace in NYC

[brush]

9. Bingo!

[Auggie]

11. 90,000 people in Michigan voted for neither candidate. Still laughing?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

12. And 4 years of trump and they'll stop sprouting

Nonsense of democrats and republicans being exactly the same.

[Auggie]

14. Let's just be sure whoever we run can connect with these people

[La Lioness Priyanka]

15. Yes, and if they connected to the man from a gold palace

In one of the most liberal cities in the world, they'll connect to someone from California.

[Auggie]

17. I doubt you can swing enough of the deplorable vote to Democrats

I want those 90,000 blank Michigan votes plus the ones wasted on Johnson and from people who stayed home. Those are the people who elect Democrats. If Newsome can win them over, great. But I'm afraid he'll be seen as just another San Francisco liberal.

[brush]

18. And 75,000 votes from Detroit, MI weren't counted

[milestogo]

48. I do not believe that many people waited in line for hours to vote for nobody.

Shenanigans went on.

[brush]

49. Yep, Detroit was targeted because most voters were AAs going for Hillary.

She would have won MI. and that would have changed everything.

You have to wonder what dirty tricks the repugs pulled in the other rust belt states to swing them to trump.

[crazycatlady]

16. John Hickenlooper?

(soon to be termed out Colorado governor)

Amy Klobuchar would be another good one.

[Auggie]

20. Yes and yes

[beaglelover]

30. Why would he not play well to middle America??? What makes you think a candidate

from middle America will play well to those of us who happen to live on one of the coasts. I'm so sick of this sense of entitlement that people in middle America have.

[MFM008]

31. See my post above

....

[Warren DeMontague]

62. We've only been pulling candiates from ONE coast, thanks.

Meanwhile, there are 50 million of us on the west coast, and the issues we care about- like marijuana legalization- are treated like a joke by the east coast establishment.

"The coasts" are not interchangeable.

[aidbo]

66. Thx

[Quixote1818]

69. You mean like JFK and FDR? nt

[sarcasmo]

10. Newsome Castro 2020. First take back the senate in 2018.

[eissa]

19. Let's see how he does as Governor first

If he gets elected, of course. I'm still on the fence with him; he says all the right things, but I've heard rumblings that he's just another John Edwards -- says all the right words, but not very authentic.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

26. Authenticity is not his strong suit.

Dude is SLICK -- in the worst sense of the word.

[Warren DeMontague]

63. Authenticity is about more than just how you look on tv

It's about doing the right thing even when it isnt politically advisable- which is why he was ahead of the curve on gay narriage.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

72. I live in SF.

I am very much aware of Gavin, in fact I have met him repeatedly and been at many of his campaign events and City Hall meetings when he was a Supe and then Mayor. He did the gay marriage think as much as a way to up his national visibility as to "do the right thing". :/ He has been planning to run for President since before his first Supe job -- everything he has done has been about that -- and too often what was best for SF and real San Franciscans was not part of his bigger picture as Mayor.

I have no plans to vote for him for Governor nor President.

[Warren DeMontague]

75. I was living down there during his 1st run. My first impression of him was "blow dried yuppie". But

I'll say this; At least he's on the right side of the issues. Honestly, NOT doing the right thing for political expedience- something we've seen too much of- isn't any more inspiring.

He's been ahead of the curve on things like Marriage, pot legalization. And he sees the way the electorate is trending. The way we win is to embrace a strong personal freedom agenda, because the GOP is gonna knee-jerk towards authoritarianism, they always do.

The authoritarians in our own party may not like it, but it's where the votes are.

[Cosmocat]

37. Not sure how him being unauthentic is some kind of rule out

99 out of 100 elected officials are "unauthentic."

[femmedem]

41. But Bernie's authenticity helped draw millions to him.

Sadly, a fair number of people didn't perceive Hillary as authentic.

And God/dess help us, there are plenty of people who think Trump is authentic. It's something people care about, even if they don't understand policies.

[brush]

45. God/dess? Never heard that before. I like.

[femmedem]

47. Thanks! I made it up on the fly

typing fast before I went in to work.

[KamaAina]

21. Newsom and Villaraigosa will go head-to-head in 2018 for governor.

The winner gets a serious bully pulpit for 2020.

A race between Newsom and Captain Carotene would be most interesting if Orange Julius Caesar picks Gavin's ex Kimberly Guilfoyle as his press secretary!

[brush]

22. Oh, I didn't know they were both running for governor

Too bad. They're both good Dems.

Is that a Northern California v Southern California split?

[KamaAina]

24. Partly. Villaraigosa is also counting on the Latino voting bloc.

With our bizarro top-two primary system, the top two finishers regardless of party advance to November. Dem vs. Dem races are not uncommon, as we just saw with Harris vs. Sanchez for Senate.

[flamingdem]

59. Antonio didn't do much for us in LA

Newsom es mucho mejor

[GaYellowDawg]

23. I've seen Newsome on Real Time

Been very impressed each time. He's very intelligent, charismatic, and photogenic. He sure seems a lot more substantive than John Edwards to me.

[Initech]

35. He'd definitely make a good VP for sure.

I am not sure he could win the EC but he would definitely be a strong VP choice at least for me.

[Cosmocat]

36. Yep

he has the looks and ease of a pol, but has actual grey matter and best I can tell is really right on the issues.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

25. I am a San Franciscan --

who is not a Newsom fan. He was ALWAYS about his personal ambition and -- aside from his gay marriage actions (which was really about said ambitions) did very little to make SF better for those of us who live here. Probably less hawkish than HRC but just as happy and cozy with Corporate America as she. Also, slick as owl shit.

[SpankMe]

28. I'm a fan of his policies.

But not of him. He's really fake and kind of an asshole...self-promoting, vindictive, "slick"....almost a liberal version of Trump.

As for him not playing well to "middle America" and the South - I don't think a Democrat of any stripe - no matter how moderate and pragmatic - could appeal to those areas any more. America is split in two - permanently, I'm afraid. Red vs. blue is purely regional now.

[MFM008]

32. Well then

Rust belts will love him.

[Va Lefty]

34. I like Newsom but I'm judging him from TV appearances

I'm guessing from your avatar that you are from/in Calf. You obviously know a lot more about him than me. Sorry to hear that. As for you second point about appealing to middle America and the South, I think you are correct. Years of faux news and am hate radio have "poisoned the well" there.

[Captain1way]

33. Years ago I recall Bill Maher being asked

Who his dream candidate would be

He answered Powell

Sure things have changed since then, but I don't have six years to be waiting around for people to come to the correct decision

His judgment is extremely flawed

[Retrograde]

38. I see Newsome more as VP, but

if he's on the ticket it will bring the right-wingers and Midwest/Southern conservatives out in force to vote against him: not only is he a California Lie-beral (not my expression) but his most note-publicized achievement to date is his legalization of same sex marriage in San Francisco.

Besides, we need him to succeed Jerry Brown here in California.

[brush]

39. Too bad Brown can't run. He turned that state around.

[onecent]

40. DidI miss one of Bill Maher video? How do I find it????

Thanks

[Va Lefty]

42. Here's a link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017415682

[onecent]

71. Thank you Va Lefty!!

[Jim Lane]

43. Please, it's NEWSOM, no "e" at the end.

I have nothing to contribute concerning his merits or demerits. All I ask is that discussions of the 2018 gubernatorial race or the 2020 national ticket not infuriate me (and the other pedants) by misspelling his name.

[brush]

46. Thanks. I'll edit.

[needledriver]

44. This Californian does not like Gavin Newsom

The intellectual dishonesty with which he promoted Prop. 63 was infuriating. He flatly declared that it would do things that it couldn't possibly do. It was a shameless, calculated ploy to get votes and attention which he hopes will propel him into the Governor's mansion.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

50. Is he a saint? Democrats have to nominate saints.

Grabbing pus*ies is okay for Republicans, but we can't have awful people like Gary Hart on our side!

[underthematrix]

51. Here's his wiki bio

[nini]

52. Villaraigosa makes me ill

He was known as the photo-op mayor. Can't stand him.

[nini]

53. Hell.. Jerry Brown should run

[Buckeye_Democrat]

54. I supported him in '92.

Is there an AA female version of him somewhere, so focusing on big money interests and income inequality doesn't scare away some voters in the primaries?

[nini]

56. We need another Shirley Chisholm

She was one of my first political heroes.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

57. She ran before my time.

I looked her up. She sounded good!

[nini]

65. She was amazing

Guts and passion. Barbara Jordan was another pioneer.

[Quixote1818]

68. Newsom would be excellent in every way possible. nt

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

70. No libertines please