Talk Elections

Clooney was on GPS today talking about Sudan.  My mom walked in and said "mark my words, he will be President one day!"  And so I've been thinking, Jerry Brown will be 76 in 2014; I doubt he will run for another term.  Clooney has been positioning himself to be in the public and political spotlight for a while now.  So it doesn't seem out of the question that he runs for governor in 2014.  I highly doubt that the people of California have learned their lesson about electing actors Governor and I can't think off the top of my head of Democrats that could run a stronger campaign than Clooney.

What do you guys think?

I've been thinking that Jerry Brown is going to leave the Governor's seat for Gavin Newsom, but your idea has merit. Clooney needs to have more political credentials (like Reagan's speech in favor of Barry Goldwater) before he runs, though.

Please no. Look at how horrible California was governed by the last movie star in office. :P

Brown has hinted at another run. If he runs for it he'll win the primary and another term. If he steps down, Newsom is the favorite.

I guess he stands a better chance in his new home state of California than his born-and-raised home state of Kentucky.  ;)

Funny, for some reason, and despite the overwhelming political bias of actors and celebrities, most successful actors-turned-politicians have been Republicans.  We all know about Reagan, Schwarzeneggar, Fred Thompson, and Clint Eastwood.  Perhaps we also remember Senator George Murphy, Ambassadors Shirley Temple and John Gavin, Congressman Fred Grandy, Mayor Alan Autry, and Governor John David Lodge, who were all Republicans too.  But for the Democrats?  Even if you count Jerry Springer, I can only think of Al Franken, Helen Gahagan and Ben Jones.

I kind of like the idea.  Anyone hazard to guess whether (should he decide to run for office) Clooney will be running as a Democrat or as an independent (assuming he is too far to the left of the GOP)?

I think that Clooney as governor would be very unwise, but Senate would be a good idea. Probably, there will be two open seats in California in 2016 and 2018. Problem to Clooney would be win a primary against a hispanic candidate.

He is from a family of Kentucky Democrats. His father ran for Congress as a Democrat a few years back. I doubt he would run as anything else, if he were to run for something.

Isn't Newsom rather unpopular?

I haven't seen any recent polling. His support for gay rights and green energy as SF mayor have made him a hero of the left. Not really popular with the CA GOP (although our state Republicans are incredibly right wing)

Off topic, but what about Kamala Harris?  I've thought she might be destined for a governor or senate run some day.

Meh. Maybe start him off with a House seat or something and see how he does. But again, meh.

Yeah, and that's been the case for a long time. He won San Francisco County by a huge margin in the 2010 election for Lieutenant Governor, and then the next day he was booed at the Giants' World Series victory parade. As the leader of the right-wing faction, he didn't exactly endear himself to the left in the City during his time as Mayor; his administration might reasonably be compared to Dianne Feinstein's. If he were to pursue higher office than the one he holds now (which, let's be honest, nobody cares about), he'll face a strong fight.

I agree with Ogre Mage that Kamala Harris will probably try to run for Governor or Senator in the next few years; I would probably vote for her. She's one of the least electable prominent Democrats in the state, but that shouldn't matter given how Democratic the state is nowadays; even with a very strong opponent in 2010, she still won.

Yeah, it's amusing that people still think Newsom is some hero of the left, though it depends on how you define "left". He only started gay marriages in SF because he needed to watch his left flank.

I was not terribly imbressed with Karmala Harris when she ran for AG...

But I have to say that she has been a strong and effective AG, who is racking up a list of accomplishments.  I like that she drove a harder bargain than most on the foreclosure settlement with the banks.  I appreciate tthat she has been a vocal supporter of gay marriage rights, etc.

Anybody else have thoughts/opinions on her performance?

In any case, California has a huge bench for statewide offices and the westside of LA only has one congressional seat with a huge bench as well, so Clooney would likely be out of luck.

When a senate or governor seat becomes open, I expect the following major contendors:

Senate:

1. Rep. Jackie Speier--California's next senator.  There's little doubt that she will run and I think she'd win the primary.

2.  Labor Secretary Hilda Solis

3.  Eric Garcetti (future LA mayor?)

Governor

1. Gavin Newsom

2. AG Karmala Harris

3. Controller John Chiang

I wonder what Villaraigosa will do with himself when he's done as mayor.  Perhaps he will get an Obama administration appointment. 

Definately. I saw one of her speeches of Youtube a few weeks ago. She's amazing.

George Clooney running for political office? That'd be hilarious.

Can't you see it happening, though?

Can anyone imagine what his percentage would be among women voters...   

No college degree, though I guess it would be possible. Highly doubtful, even though I'd love to see the result of any such campaign.

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Eric Garcetti, should he be elected Mayor (I'm not entirely sure he can beat Greuel), can pretty much be ordained as future Senator or Governor on arrival. The man's a Rhodes Scholar and very popular in the LA community. It also doesn't hurt that he's the spitting image of Phil from Modern Family.

I agree Gov Clooney is almost as serious as Sen Ben Afflack when he was flirting for Senate in VA, this is obvious a way to raise some money for Obama if he floats a Clooney candidacy in the state of California. It is gov Newsome.