A truth that has become more and more painfully obvious as Newsom attempts to enter the national spotlight week after week.
It’s the basis for his challenge to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for a debate, he wants to demonstrate his “fighter” skills to a DeSantis-hating audience. That debate won’t happen, of course, there’s no reason to elevate this moron beyond his own failing state.
The Florida vs. California battle is a debate that can be won with two charts. First, “Exhibit A” is a chart that shows the number of people fleeing California every year, and “Exhibit B” is a chart that shows the number of people moving to Florida every year. Result: Case dismissed in Florida’s favor.
However, the plans for a Newsom presidential run seem to be so set at this point that it’s only a matter of waiting for Biden to announce he’s not running:
California Governor Gavin Newsom is “undeniably, unequivocally” planning to run for president in 2024 if President Biden chooses not to seek a second term, two individuals with knowledge of Newsom’s plans told TheWrap.
“After this midterm election is over, he absolutely is going to announce that he is running for the presidency once Biden announces that he is not running,” a leading California fundraiser with close ties to the Newsom family told TheWrap. “No ifs, ands or buts. He will run if Biden does not.”
A second individual close to the governor, a Los Angeles philanthropist with deep connections in the Democratic Party and a long history of fundraising for its candidates, confirmed Newsom’s intention to run.
It’s a fairly gutsy move to try and muscle out the leader of your own party and let him know that when he’s ready to tell everyone he’s not running, you’ll go ahead and step in. What about Kamala Harris? As a fellow Californian, that’s a bit of a slap in the face to the first female Vice President, no? She clearly has aspirations to replace Biden as the standard bearer in 2024.
Perhaps the bottom line is that if Biden decides not to run, no one else is in a strong enough position to avoid a primary and essentially ascend to the thrown, as it were. No one is afraid of Kamala Harris, or Pete Buttigieg, for that matter. They’ve both been political lightweights during their time working in the Biden administration.
Newsom has attempted to position himself as a progressive fighter from outside the beltway willing to get down and dirty by name-dropping DeSantis every chance he gets.
Newsom’s approval rating in California is actually quite poor for a state as reliably blue as California. Even his own voters see the problems and most view the state as going in the wrong direction:
Fifty-three percent of registered California voters approve of the job the governor is doing. That’s up from 48% in February and 50% nearly a year ago. It is still far below the 64% who approved in Sept. 2020 Despite the favorable rating, voters largely feel that the state is heading in the wrong direction.
More than half, 52%, said that the state is on the “wrong track,” compared to 40% who say things are heading in the right direction. That does mark a slight improvement from February, when 54% said the state was on the wrong track.
If Grandpa Joe bows out, there’s always Hair Gel waiting in the wings to swoop in and take the limelight. How Newsom will sell his California values in the rust belt remains to be seen, but there’s at least a non-zero chance we might get to see the attempt.
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