CA Dems love them some Jerry

SF Mayor Gavin Newsom has dropped out of the California gubernatorial race, effectively handing the Democratic nomination to Jerry Brown, who was last governor when I was my son's age. As Evan Halper reports,

Although Newsom had been effectively running for more than a year, his campaign never gained much traction. Even in his hometown, which Newsom touted as a model of cutting-edge policies, his candidacy was widely derided among civic insiders.

Perhaps most telling was the absence of support from the major San Francisco donors who helped underwrite Newsom’s successful campaigns in the city. He also drew relatively few endorsements from the ranks of his fellow elected officials.

This, of course, is how many, perhaps most, nominations are made. The party -- in the form of Democratic donors and elected officials -- has picked a candidate. Democratic voters will get to weigh in in next year's primary, but the decision has effectively been made for them.