When Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced on CNN this week that he wouldn't seek the California Democratic gubernatorial nomination, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was attending a Bay Area event with First Ladies Michelle Obama and Maria Shriver.
In less than an hour, Newsom -- the Dems' only declared candidate -- was in the car and working the phones, calling major Hollywood donors and activists who'd been waiting to see what the L.A. mayor would to do.
"Villaraigosa bowing out is a huge strategic opportunity for Newsom in terms of Hollywood donors," said political consultant Kristina Schake, who knows her way around the Beverly Hills-Brentwood Park-Malibu fundraising circuit. (Call it the Dems' "axis of cash.") "Without our mayor in the race, Newsom now has the chance to make his case to the considerable amount of Hollywood donors who had not committed yet because of Villaraigosa. This is Newsom's chance to get the meetings."
The telegenic San Francisco mayor first gained national and statewide attention for his early support of gay marriage, likely to be one of the coming campaign's major issues. Newsom has already had what most people in the industry would regard as top-drawer meetings. Last week, super agent and Endeavor-William Morris honcho Ari Emanuel (brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel) was one of the hosts at an elite Newsom fund-raising event. Other hosts included longtime activists Michele and Rob Reiner, Ben Silverman, Jamie Lynton, Craig and Lynn Jacobson, Eric Paquette, George Heller, Debbie Liebling and Andrew Bohn.
Newsom's candidacy also got a boost when he was introduced to agents at ICM headquarters by the agency's president, Chris Silbermann, an early supporter of Barack Obama.
Without Villaraigosa in the race, Schake points out, Jerry Brown, the former governor-turned-state attorney general, "becomes the most recognizable candidate in L.A. [Brown has not announced his intention to run for governor.] But while Brown is a known quantity, Newsom brings something new, which could appeal to those who stayed out of the race while Villaraigosa was weighing his options. Brown goes way back in Hollywood, but it's clear from these early events that Newsom already is being well received."
