Willie Brown’s Ultimate Magic Trick

If there’s one lesson we’ve all learned--and relearned--it is to never, ever count out Willie Brown. Save the political obit. He’s a Lazarus.

Practically nothing seems impossible anymore for this Houdini after having finessed his way back into the Speaker’s office with just 39 Democratic votes in an 80-member house.

But Willie Brown, governor?

“I’m going to clearly have (running for) governor as an option (in 1998),” he says. “Absolutely.”

We’ve been through Willie-for-governor speculation before--two years ago when a longtime ally tried to organize a draft movement among black politicians. That fizzled when Brown dismissed the notion. “I’ve got a better shot at the lottery,” he told me then.

“I don’t dream. I live in the real world. . . . I don’t want to be perceived as any kind of crazy person who’s taken leave of his senses. . . . I’m like a cat. You’ve never seen a cat attempt anything that a cat couldn’t achieve.”

And so forth.

It was especially interesting, therefore, to learn of a brief exchange between Brown and a stranger at a recent lawyers’ banquet in Los Angeles. Making small talk, the stranger asked: “Why don’t you run for governor?” Brown replied with a straight face: “I am. Next time.”

Brown laughed when I recounted this conversation. “That was not an announcement,” he said. “It’s too far away to be seriously thinking about. It’s in the back recesses. . . . But it’s a possibility.”

*

Brown lays out this scenario: When term limits force him from the Assembly in 1996, he wins a Senate seat and begins plotting to become President pro tem after the present leader, Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward), is term-limited in 1998. “I may not even be interested (in governor) if I’m pro tem,” he says.

But Brown adds: “If I have no leadership role to play, then I’d have to consider statewide office. And the office of choice would be governor.”

Brown, 60, realizes the baggage he has acquired during three decades as a powerful, outspoken legislator. For many Republicans and conservative Democrats, he is the devil incarnate. Too liberal. Too arrogant. Too power mad. But in fact, Brown is more moderate than his image. He can be a charmer. And he’s no more ambitious than most politicians; just more talented.

The Times Poll asked Californians their impression of Brown two years ago and the response was only 27% favorable against 41% unfavorable. The impression of blacks was overwhelmingly positive and a plurality of Latinos also liked him, but whites were negative by more than 2 to 1. Men disliked him much more than women did.

All this, however, points to a potentially strong candidacy for the Democratic nomination. A plurality of Democratic voters had a favorable impression of Brown.

“What I suffer from is the myth that surrounds me,” he says. “All I have to do is appear (before groups) and I explode the myth. Obviously, I’d have to do a lot of appearances. It would take 18 months, almost a daily routine. Comparable to what (presidential) candidates do in Iowa. I’d have to go into every county.”

If this timetable doesn’t quite make sense--if it seems a stretch to spend most of 1997 and 1998 jockeying to become Senate leader and also running for governor--well, that’s just Willie talk. As he says, it’s all in the “back recesses.” Based on recent history, however, who’s to say he couldn’t make it work?

*

What he would offer, the Speaker says, “is leadership. I’m a producer.” Indeed, no lawmaker the last two years has been more responsible for passage of major legislation than Brown.

To recapture the governorship, he says, Democrats must field a candidate they “feel strongly about,” somebody who “generates interest.” On that score, he notes, “I come out reasonably well.”

All last year, Brown complained that the party had forgotten its constituency. But now he says, “I’m beginning to believe we don’t know who our constituency is.” He thought it was Latinos, blacks, students, old people, environmentalists, women--but “none of these groups rallied around the flag of Democrats. Either we mistook our constituency or what moves our constituency. I think the Democratic Party is in trouble. Absolutely, no question.”

His incentive to run, he says, would be “to elevate the perception of African American politicians in this nation,” restore a “Kennedy-type vision in the world of politics” and “make this place a lot of fun. There would be no significant public incident that wouldn’t have the flavor of Ann Richards, Mario Cuomo and probably Robert Byrd.”

Do I think Willie Brown will run for governor? No. If he did run, would he win? No way. Would I bet on that? Absolutely not.