Newsom begins to run for president

California Gov. in the national spotlight -- both praised and knocked

I guess there is no longer any point in pretending this isn’t happening.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has begun an audition to be a presidential candidate. With the exposure he’s gotten from the Coronavirus, he’s even reached partial Cuomo status. His press briefings are often covered in real time, just like Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York.

The results have been boffo. He’s been featured in a Stephen Colbert monologue, was a guest on “The Daily Show,” and gets name-checked hourly on CNN and MSNBC. Last week he was lionized by national pundit Chris Cillizza, whose CNN story was headlined: “Gavin Newsom may be the most underrated governor in the country right now.”

He’s still movie-star handsome, of course. (Colbert called him “a mannequin-American”) Newsom has put up with a lifetime of hair-gel jokes, but he gets the last laugh because he pulls it off. With two 70-plus-year-old men running for president, the youthful (52), athletic Newsom looks like the epitome of the fresh face the Democrats have been searching for since the Bill and Hillary Clinton dynasty ended.

As Doug Harman, a Democratic deep thinker, says in Cillizza’s piece:

“You have governors from states like California and New York and Illinois leading the crisis response — big name, major-league governors — you’re going to see that leadership reflected in polls for the presidency.”

However, as we know, in politics for every positive action there is an equal and opposite negative reaction.

With Newsom, the pushback follows familiar routes. That he’s a show horse not a work horse. That he’s got lots of big plans, but the follow-through isn’t always there. A New York Times column last week questioned if Newsom has “the grit” to be successful.

To which we would say, Newsom may be new to the rest of the country, but he’s a familiar figure here in Don’t-call-it-Frisco. We may not have him figured out, but we definitely have some opinions.

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First, it is the fear of all great-looking people that they will not be taken seriously. Newsom wants to counter that. A math wonk to start with, he wants to dazzle you with mastery of the subject. Any subject.

And he does dazzle you.

And then he keeps going.

And going. The firehose of information can start to sound like he is talking at you instead of to you.

I continue to insist that marriage and children have softened Newsom. Former colleague Carla Marinucci (@cmarinucci) has noted how telling stories about his kids warms and humanizes him. He’s definitely never more appealing than when he can laugh at himself.

And part of the criticism isn’t that he talks so much, but that he talks so big. Critics would agree with the Associated Press story on April 15, discussing Newsom’s tendency for “big plans, few details.”

Newsom’s recent $1 billion deal with a Chinese firm to supply California with 200 million protective face masks a month, is reflective.

Newsom announced the mask deal on the national Rachel Maddow Show, saying “enough with the small ball.” Not only did Newsom get national exposure, he dinged the president without ever saying Donald Trump’s name.

He didn’t have to. The contrast was obvious. Trump couldn’t get medical supplies for the states. And here’s this can-do California governor cutting his own deal and looking out for his state’s health care workers. The Times story says the hashtag #PresidentNewsom was trending the next morning.

And once again we experienced the equal and opposite pushback. State legislators complained that Newsom cut the deal by himself, with virtually no oversight or input. There were questions about the Chinese company, which has faced issues with product quality.

There are also worries about when the bills are due. A lot of money has already been spent in a state hit hard with unemployment and an almost certain recession.

Newsom responded with braggadocio;

“I care about producing a big result. Others are going to consume themselves around the process. We’re going to consume ourselves around saving lives.”

Which sounded a little smug.

So yes, there are concerns that need to be addressed.

But I would say this. If you’re electing someone to a big and important office, you want someone who thinks big. Newsom may be “audacious,” one of his favorite words, but not many of his big project ideas have turned out to be wrong.

He was right to be the first in the country to cancel school. He pushed for strong social distancing and California has so far gotten credit for successfully limiting the effect of the virus. He’s made a national splash in his first term as governor.

Definitely wasn’t sure how many people would read this when it started. But it has kind of grown. Now, if I picture everyone in a single room (social distancing of course) it seems like a small crowd. But there’s always room for me. Want to send this to a friend. Great, because that’s what this button does.

Of course there are some flaws.

But I think of him the way I thought of the 1980 Oakland Raiders. I covered that team. I watched them drop passes, commit penalties and make bonehead decisions. When the Raiders made it to the playoffs, I was sure they were going to lose every game because I’d seen all those flaws and problems.

Instead, they went all the way and won the Super Bowl. I’d forgotten that the other teams were also dropping passes and committing penalties.

People can poke at Newsom’s image and roll their eyes at his verbiage, but it is the aggregate that counts. The sum of the parts.

You want somebody bold, who is embracing the challenge. Someone with the natural charisma to attract a following.

Take another look at the Democratic field for president this year. Are you really saying Newsom can’t play in that game?

Live from Roger Goodell’s basement — the 2020 NFL draft

The bonus is, if you read all the way to the end of my column in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, you will get a reward. Raiders general manager Mike Mayock will make one of the most obscure references I have ever heard on a media conference call.

The discussion is about the NFL draft, which will take place beginning Thursday at 5 pm. That’s the time, but the “place” is a little harder to pin down. Since this is a “virtual” draft, everyone — coaches, players, scouts and GM’s — will be in the cloud, floating through the internet.

Still this should be worth watching on two levels. First, reports are that an attempted practice draft was a train wreck, with connection problems and confidential conversations broadcast to everyone.

And second, it isn’t a game, but it is the first sports event since the virus shut everything down. Finally, something to react to.

And finally, I’m really hoping ESPN finds a way to “virtually” boo commissioner Roger Goodell. It’s a tradition, unlike any other.

The real problem for re-starting Major League baseball — money

Until now, we’ve been mostly focused on the logistics of how Major League Baseball would be able to get back on the field in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.

We’ve discussed the need for testing every player, umpire and media member. We’d need to be sure the ball didn’t carry the virus. And we needed to discuss social distancing.

But one thing everyone seemed to agree about was the fans — there shouldn’t be any. Virtually any version of a plan to re-start the season had the requirement that the ballparks would be empty. The games would be televised, but without spectators.

But now as this Forbes story says, taking the ticket buyers out of the equation may upset the entire plan.

The issue is that the players’ union wants to stick with an agreement signed between the owners and players in March. According to that deal, salaries were to be calculated according to the number of games played.

But that was signed before it became clear that there will almost certainly not be fans in attendance. As Forbes says, in 2019, “stadium revenue” accounted for over $5 billion. That’s roughly half of the $10.5 billion total revenue.

Although the players’ union is holding firm so far, the owners are now saying that the numbers don’t work. And that it may be the owners, not the players, who say putting on a season this year will be impossible. Stay tuned.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Comments and suggestions welcome. Complaints, not so much. @cwnevius