Today's Fresh Meat

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

It's hard for politicians to be subtle sometimes. Just moments after calling speculation about a gubernatorial bid "wildly premature," San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom indicated that he would run if he could "add value to the race," according to Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee. If that's not an annoucement, I'm not sure what is.

Newsom also made news today for threatening to sue the state government over cuts to Medi-Cal, calling the reduction in care unconsionable, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Gavin's right. When the legislature approved the cuts, Democrats were hopeful that funding could be restored for Medi-Cal and scheduled the cuts to begin this summer to provide time for other solutions. When we're chipping away at basic services for our neediest citizens, it certainly says something about our values.

The gubernatorial field is already getting more crowded by the day, and by the San Jose Mercury News count, four of other candidates besides Gavin are either current or former Silican Valley moguls: Steve Westly, Steve Poizner, eBay CEO Meg Whitman and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina (all but Westly are Republicans).

There's more...