Newsom Channels Obama Techno-Spirit

 

In the spirit of using popular technology to reach the masses, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom used Twitter to officially announce his run for the California Governorship.

The announcement comes at no surprise to many Californians who watched Mayor Newsom move across the state trying to figure out the support he has and could have.

“Today, I am announcing, via Tweet, my candidacy for governor,” the Democrat’s website declared.

“It’s official — running for Gov of CA. Wanted you to be the first to know. Need your help,” he said on his Twitter feed, the real-time microblog.

You may be able to think of Newsom as the Obama of the California Governor’s race. President Obama used a generational and tech-savvy approach to muster up support for his campaign. Newsom, 41, seemed to suggest California’s need for a Governor who will stray from the traditional approach to fixing the problems in the state.

“The truth is we can’t afford to be returning to the same old tired ideas and expect a different result,” he said. We need new ideas and bold, fresh innovative solutions to get out of this mess.”

His statement could be interpreted as a swipe at his most likely opponents, Attorney General Jerry Brown and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Brown has 30 years on Newsom, Villaraigosa has 15.

Neither Brown nor Villaraigosa have officially thrown their hat in the ring.

Newsom has some work to do if the scenario plays out as expect with Brown and Villaraigosa in the running. A recent Field Poll showed Newsom in third place among Democrats who are most likely to run for governor, behind the attorney general and Los Angeles mayor. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein leads the pack but has not moved forward with plans to run for governor. 

Feinstein is a former San Francisco mayor herself.

Newsom was a major figure in the fight over gay marriage and particularly Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage last November. His image was used on the Yes on 8 campaigns with him saying, “like it or not”, referring to gay marriage eventually becoming legal in California. San Francisco’s “sanctuary” police for immigrants, which has been widely criticized by Republicans, is also expected to be a challenge in Newsom’s campaign.

Source: Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle