Jerry Brown has always marched to the beat of a different drummer. He is that rarest of creatures...a politician who doesn't seem to care about his perceived image. Think what you will of his politics, Brown is and has always been a straight shooter who calls 'em as he sees 'em.
In his days as Governor of (where else?) California, Jerry Brown refused to live in the Governor's Mansion (he lived in an Apartment in Sacramento), dated Linda Ronstadt, and earned his famous nickname-- "Governor Moonbeam" -- for proposing that the state buy it's own satellite to speed up emergency communications. For all his quirks, Brown was a popular chief executive and was re-elected in 1978 by the largest vote margin in California history. After leaving office the former Jesuit seminarian went to Japan to study Buddhism. One reason for his popularity was that the decidedly left-leaning Brown was anything but an ideologue, choosing his positions on issues on the basis of conscience, not party-line considerations. He once described himself as both to the right and to the left of his democratic nemesis, Jimmy Carter.
In 1992, Jerry Brown ran for president again, and foreshadowed Howard Dean's populist campaign by having an 800 number and requesting small ($100) contributions from people. In 1998, he was elected mayor of Oakland, a post he continues to hold after being re-elected in '03. He recently announced that he is running for California Attorney General.
All this to tell you that Jerry Brown has entered the Blogosphere. Governor Moonbeam is thought-provoking, sometimes maddening, and always interesting. Check out his blog here. Some of his posts are somewhat specific to Oakland, but his writing style will remind you why he is a one-of-a-kind entity in American politics.
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