A couple of scholarsDo you know who Willie Brown, now 85 years old, is-- apart from having once been Kamala Harris' boyfriend and political benefactor? At one time he was the most powerful Democratic politician in California. He won his first election to the state Assembly in 1964, one of only 4 African-American members at the time. He remained in the Assembly for 30 years, the last 15 of which as Speaker, originally winning that post with just 23 Democratic votes, bolstered by 28 Republicans! He will always be remembered as the guy who legalized homosexuality in California. After he was forced out of the Assembly by a term limits referendum that passed with him specifically in mind, he was elected mayor of San Francisco, defeating the Democratic incumbent, Frank Jordan. He served as mayor until 2004, when he was termed-out and Gavin Newsom replaced him.Why the ancient history lesson? Over the weekend, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a bizarre OpEd by Brown, Nancy Pelosi For President. No Really. Kamala Harris' list of endorsements includes loads of mayors, including London Breed (San Francisco), Libby Schaaf (Oakland), Sam Liccardo (San Jose), Darrell Steinberg (Sacramento), Aja Brown (Compton) and Robert Garcia (Long Beach). But not Willie. He's backing... Nancy.
We now have close to 20 candidates and potential candidates crisscrossing the country in pursuit of the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, while the one person with the best chance of winning is right in front of us: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.Let’s check the list.She is already the best-known Democrat in the nation.She has a proven legislative record.And she has proved that she can unite the party’s disparate factions.Her election success in leading House Democrats back to power shows she has a grasp of what sells in swing states as well as blue outposts.And no one can outdo her when it comes to raising money.Most important, for all the abuse Republicans heap on “San Francisco values,” Pelosi is the one politician President Trump fears.He’s quick with a condescending nickname for just about all his opponents, but not Pelosi. And with good reason-- she dealt him the worst defeat of his presidency when she stood firm as Trump shut down much of the government over Democrats’ refusal to pay for his border wall.As for issues: The Affordable Care Act, which helped nearly 20 million Americans obtain health care, may be known as Obamacare, but Pelosi is largely responsible for getting it done. That alone speaks louder to America’s middle class than any of the issues being touted by the Democratic candidates.
Republicans know they could never be that lucky. There probably aren't many Democrats who could win the nomination and then be defeated by Trump. I doubt Pelosi could even win the nomination, but if she did, Trump would have found the only national politician in the country who is more generally disliked, at least outside of San Francisco, than he is.