Attorney General Jerry Brown has relied on a stealth fundraising campaign and his near universal name recognition to wipe out the field seven months ahead of California's Democratic primary for governor.That has left the 72-year-old political icon, who already has served two terms as California governor, as the party's presumed candidate for governor in 2010, even though Brown has not officially declared.
It's not the position in which the majority party in a state as diverse as California had expected to find itself, just a year after a grassroots groundswell helped give Barack Obama the biggest margin of victory in a California presidential election since at least World War II.
The seeming inevitability of Brown's candidacy has left some Democrats nervous about what his campaign might produce. He is famously independent, often unpredictable and his views are not as well known as his name to many of today's voters. He has also mostly stayed out of the debate about the state's massive fiscal crisis.
"There's a whole generation who have no idea who he is, and there's a lot of activists who have no clue on how he'd balance the budget because he hasn't articulated it," said Steve Maviglio, a Sacramento-based Democratic consultant. "That's why there's a level of nervousness about Jerry Brown being our only choice."
The Democratic Party and California's electorate have grown increasingly diverse in the years since Brown last served as governor 26 years ago. The party's legislative caucus is relatively young and is dominated by Hispanics, blacks and Asians.
Another unknown is how Brown would fare against a deep-pocketed Republican such as Meg Whitman, the former chief executive of eBay, who is a fresh face on the political scene and is aggressively targeting women voters. Some Republicans already have signaled part of their campaign strategy, casting Brown as a political insider who represents California's past, not its future.
The Democrats' unexpected position heading into the 2010 governor's race prompted a lament from former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, who wrote in his weekly newspaper column that some Democrats are asking: "Can't we find someone with a newer paint job?"
Brown's seven-to-one fundraising advantage and 20-point lead in public opinion polls forced San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom out of the race last month. Newsom, 42, who was best known for approving same-sex marriages in his famously liberal hometown, was the favorite among younger Democrats.
Some Newsom supporters may wonder whether Brown will represent their interests, while other voters are too young to remember his two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983 and are simply unfamiliar with him. Brown remains popular with public employee unions, who helped him collect $7.3 million through the first half of the year.
The state's political landscape also has changed in the decades since Brown last served as governor. The independent voters who comprise 20 percent of the electorate can swing an election and would likely consider a centrist Republican.
Another concern is that Brown has not officially announced his candidacy and has not detailed his views on critical topics, although he has signaled he will oppose tax increases.
Steven Glazer, a political adviser to Brown, said Brown will have time for politics later.
"I'm very confident he will make a decision to run, but he's focused on doing his job as attorney general right now," Glazer said.
