LA Is No SF and Vice Versa
In his weekly Daily News column, veteran LA political reporter Rick Orlov makes a good point:
Both men [Antonio Villaraigosa and Gavin Newsom] also face a historical problem - no mayor of Los Angeles or San Francisco ever has been elected governor. Former Mayor Tom Bradley came the closest, but he lost out to then-Attorney General George Deukmejian.
In fact, being a mayor is almost a drawback - raising geographic rivalries and other issues that serve to undermine votes.
The only governor who ever came from a major city was former Gov. Pete Wilson, who had served as mayor in San Diego. But he won the governorship only after he also had become a U.S. senator.
Of course, the really noteworthy (or sad, depending on your point of view) thing is how much interest there is in the 2010 gubernatorial primary when we’re still 13 weeks away from the 2006 general.
We’ll see how the handicapping looks when Newsom gets his universal health care plan off the ground while Villaraigosa is herding cats in his effort to take over LA schools.
