Johnson and Warren are long dead; Pat Brown is more recently deceased.

But son Jerry Brown is very much alive, as peripatetic and hyperkinetic as ever, and the former two-term governor, talk-show personality and thrice-thwarted presidential candidate has set his sights on what surely must rank as the most bizarre goal of his surprising career -- the Oakland mayor's office.

Brown, once the Golden Boy of California politics who was elected governor at the age of 36, hasn't held a popularly elected office in 15 years. His last race, for the U.S. Senate against Republican Pete Wilson, ended in disaster and he has filled only one major political post since then, as chair of the state Democratic Party. He moved into Oakland in the early 1990s -- a town which until then he had scant connection -- and since September 1995, he has hosted a radio program called "We The People," which serves as a forum for Brown's grass-roots populism and keeps his name before listeners in the East Bay, Los Angeles, Houston, New York and a scattering of other stations.

California political journalists generally have enjoyed covering Brown and it's not hard to see why: In a media-heavy state where politicians appear to be molded by television advertising and little else, Brown is an oddity. Genuinely cerebral, Brown is the policy wonk-turned-politician, as comfortable with philosophical abstractions as he is ambitious for political power. He bubbles with ideas, many of them good, even visionary. Energy conservation, prudent consumerism, technological innovation, satellite development -- he pushed for all of these as governor, and while tagged as a flaky "Gov. Moonbeam" with kooky notions while in office, many of his proposals have long since entered the mainstream.

He also takes political risks, running for president shortly after his first election, and running again mid-way through his second gubernatorial term. The latter presidential campaign was a debacle, culminating in a political rally and Hollywood-style lightshow in Wisconsin -- it was put together by Francis Ford Coppola -- that was supposed to be a futuristic marriage of politics and technology, but flopped horribly. One Capitol wag dubbed it "Apocalypse Right Now." Politically, Brown never recovered from that night.

He's taking another risk running for mayor of Oakland, but he may be thinking he has little to lose. Always the outsider, Brown is not plugged in to the local Democratic organization in a meaningful way. The current mayor, Elihu Harris, a former Assemblyman and veteran Democratic insider, doesn't support Brown, nor do the party's rank and file. And while Brown has always appealed to the young and restless, his backing has been spread thin and not focused in Oakland where the votes count. Moreover, Brown carries a carpetbagger's baggage. A denizen of Los Angeles and San Francisco, where his father was once district attorney, the Yale-educated Brown doesn't really connect politically with the gritty East Bay.

Political pros in the Capitol have long since written Brown off; most journalists, too. But that won't stop legions of media from covering the race. Brown still generates media interest, he is a tough campaigner and his formal announcement was covered by every major news organization in the state; it even captured national media attention.

If nothing else, he's entertaining.

To Whom it May Concern,

[I] love your weekly update on Cal. political news. After reading this week's [Nov. 17] story, however, I couldn't help wondering whether you were concerned that the passage below might land you in some grammar text in the chapter on mixed metaphors, under a heading like, "Some especially egregious examples":

"Both the insurers and trial lawyers have identified "Royal Globe" as their No. 1 legislative priority next year, and both -- like scorpions in a bottle -- are putting together campaign war chests in case the negotiations fall apart."

I'm generally not too fussy about such things, but -- whoa. (On the other hand, the possibilities for political cartoonists are tempting.)

[Chris Zimmerman]

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