She just got here less than two years ago, and now she may be setting her sights elsewhere:
In a move that could shake up an already hotly contested race, popular Peninsula Rep. Jackie Speier is eyeing a run for state attorney general.
Speier’s interest in returning to Sacramento, where she spent nearly 20 years in the Legislature, was sparked by a statewide poll that showed her outpacing the other Democratic candidates for AG by better than 4 to 1.
The poll of 450 likely Democratic and independent voters, taken by J. Moore Methods this month, showed Speier running first with 23 percent, followed by San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris at 5 percent, state Assemblyman Ted Lieu of Torrance (Los Angeles County) at 4 percent and ex-Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo at 3 percent. A smattering of other candidates pulled lesser numbers.
So: why the move, if she is indeed interested?
Sources say she hasn’t fully warmed up to Washington, where she has little seniority. Plus, Sacramento is a much shorter commute from the Peninsula.
The mere thought of Speier leaving Congress is certain to set off guessing over who might try to claim her seat – with everyone from state Sen. Leland Yee to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom certain to be in the mix.
It’s a mad world.
RaceTracker Wiki: CA-12
ref http://lessig08.org/ . He’d be a focus for net neutrality, open software, against restrictive licenses like the DMCA, etc.
Realistically, it’s probably the best chance for Gavin Newsom to keep his star rising.
The conventional wisdom out here in CA was that while Kamala Harris was a lock to win the primary, she was screwed going into the general and many state Dems were willing to write this race off. I think this would allow us to easily hold the AG spot and give us a real shot at completely locking down the entire statewide slate come 2011. Plus, Speier has to be thinking that this race would position her well either for a future Senate or Governor bid, something that would be much harder to do as a House member.
If Speier makes the jump, expect Harris to consider switching down to the House race.
Is a great person and I am a big fan. I wish she would stay in the House because it looks like she will rise quickly there. Also, I am a big fan of Kamela Harris who is running for Attorney General already and is from San Francisco. It will be hard for me to decide who to support.
Given California’s term limits, I would think that a safe seat in the US House would be more attractive than joining the merry-go-round at the state constitutional officer level. Two words say it all: Cruz Bustamente.
No fucking way. A sidewalk puddle has more depth than Gavin, and everyone here knows it. And I mean everyone: voters, staffers, donors, consultants, journalists. The Anyone But Gavin vote would be huge. He might could slink through a split field on name rec alone, especially if an Asian candidate and a white candidate both refuse to leave the race. But I hope not.
On the upside, he actually might not be an awful Congressman. Congress allows fairly ordinary people to choose one subject, master it, and become productive and beneficial. Gavin could probably do that. And if he matured in office a little, then by the time he was actually in charge of legislative dealmaking on that subject he might have gotten over his brittleness and actually not make a hash of it.
Hopefully it’s a moot point though, this part of California has too much talent to waste a seat on Playboy Newsom.
It would seem easier to win Feinstein’s open Senate seat (assuming it does in fact come open) as a statewide executive than as one of fifty-three members of Congress.