After being rumored for weeks, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom finally answered the question on the tongues of local wonks: He will be running for the Lieutenant Governor job.
Even though he said, in the wake of his failed gubernatorial campaign, he would never run for the job, which he mocked as a do-nothing position.
But hey, if you have to fill an empty suit, it's true, Brioni does hang well on him.
Unlike his gubernatorial campaign, he didn't announce the run on Twitter as he did for the gubernatorial race. Instead, he appeared alongside San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phil Matier on KCBS. He has since updated his Twitter followers.
On the heels of the announcement, State Senator Dean Florez has dropped out of the race, citing Newsom's lead in a poll last month. Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, however, doesn't seem to have any such intention -- she's in Marin County, practically Newsom's home turf, today campaigning for the Democratic nomination.
In the actually important races for governor and senator, the California State Republican Convention kicks off today in Santa Clara, and will feature all the party nomination hopefuls, just not at the same time or in any debates. Special bonus guest is noted Massachusetts health care reformer Mitt Romney.
That would require eBay CEO Meg Whitman to possibly take questions from a moderator, and if we've learned anything about Whitman it's that she doesn't like questions.
Not that you might realize that from a new Whitman commercial that's still in production. A plant from Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner's campaign snuck in to a staged "town hall," where the audience was encouraged to cheer and questions were repeated for the benefit of candidate and cameras.
A Democrat agent provocateur was also escorted from the premises.
Jackson West will not be taking any questions at this time.
