I'm currently at the Leo J Ryan memorial park for Jackie Speier's official congressional campaign kickoff. Wow. Not only is it the nicest day imaginable, but the crowd is amazingly huge (I'll have pics up later). I'm told the number is 812 signed in with over 40 of her 92 endorsed elected officials on hand. Anna Eshoo. Mike Thompson. John Burton. Scores of volunteers. Hot dogs and a cotton candy machine. The operation is top notch.
If it is possible to win a campaign with one event, the Speier campaign may have pulled it off today. The overwhelming show of support and organization is going to make anyone think long and hard about getting in the race. Speier's popularity in the district is legendary, but today was a powerful reminder of how deep that support runs. There's a poll after the jump asking your predictions as to whether you think Leland Yee gets in. I'm voting no.
Updated with pictures and speech exerts and news coverage and videos.
(Huge news for Speier, Tourk is top-notch! - promoted by Bob Brigham)
(This is more of a quick hit than a diary, but I thought this news was just too juicy to ignore.)
It looks like Jackie Speier is pretty seriously considering running in CA-12 against Tom Lantos.
Demo derby: Former state Sen. Jackie Speier has just signed Mayor Gavin Newsom's onetime campaign manager Alex Tourk to help launch her still-unofficial campaign to unseat Peninsula Congressman Tom Lantos in next June's Democratic primary.
"She hasn't declared yet, but she asked me to join her team - and I'm honored to be part of it," Tourk said Friday. "And I'm confident when people are reminded of her record and talk to her one-on-one in house meetings, there will be no doubt her time is now."
Tourk was Gavin Newsom's campaign manager and deputy chief of staff ... until it was revealed that Newsom was sleeping with Tourk's wife, Ruby Rippey-Tourk. I don't know much about Tourk but he has a reputation for being a skilled political consultant so this is another sign that Speier is getting closer to running for CA-12.
June 2nd is going to be a huge day in San Francisco politics. Gavin Newsom is kicking off his signature gathering with a rally and Chris Daly is holding is "convention" to try and force somebody to make it a race. At last night's fundraiser, I heard from two very knowledgeable progressive supervisors about the state of the race. One insisted that Matt Gonzalez was going to run and make it a re-match. The other insisted that there was no way in hell Matt Gonzalez was going to run. In unrelated news, a reliable source told me that Alex Tourk was seen having dinner with former Mayor Willie Brown last night (BTW, section 3.101 of SF Code says, "There shall be no limit on the non-successive terms that a person may serve"). Could be an interesting race...
The San Francisco Sentinel has a great number of photos from Gavin Newsom's HQ open house, including pics of Assemblymember Mark Leno, Supervisor Beavan Dufty, and John Burton.
In other campaign news, Newsom strategist Eric Jaye turns to blogging for his thoughts on Alex Tourk. While a touchy subject, I thought it was a classy post that paid a well deserved tribute to Tourk as a person and operative.
In tomorrow's issue of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Tim Redmond sums up the field on the left, suggesting the CW at the Guardian's birthday bash was Matt Gonzalez has first shot, Ross Mirkarimi if Gonzalez declines and everyone if Newsom bows out. Redmond concludes, "Throw in public financing and ranked-choice voting, and the election's going to be like nothing there ever was in this town. I can't wait." He isn't alone.
