Jerry Brown: The Blogging Mayor

They say that once you've run and lost a campaign for President, you become a better politician. Certainly, the guys (and they're almost all guys) who climb the mountain and fall off are - as a group - more direct, more honest, and more willing to speak plainly. Usually, of course, they ride off into the sunset. Sometimes, rarely, they re-emerge in local office...

It's true of former Virginia Governor Douglas Wilder who is now the mayor of Richmond, VA. And it's true of former California Governor Jerry Brown, serving now as mayor of Oakland, CA.

Want to see what a successful blogging mayor looks like? Look no further than Mayor Moonbeam:

In Oakland this week, we broke ground for a Whole Foods store in downtown, near auto row. It will be Whole Foods' largest store west of Texas and the first new major grocery store in this part of Oakland in decades.

For those who debate war and peace and the privatization of social security, this may seem like small potatoes. But it is a big deal. It is what we deal with in the city. And it is here that democracy, "people power," still flourishes.

Neighbors count and they make their voices heard. Higher up on the political food chain, neighbors get submerged into the demographics of market research and mass propaganda.

On the Democrats:

Day Two of the convention, and it's a real bash – on the Governor. Arnold has managed to unite the far-flung tribes of the California Democratic Party.

Howard Dean fired up the troops tonight. He spoke about moral values and talking in a language that ordinary Americans could understand. The audience went wild.

There is something strange, though, in this rush to “morals.”

Oh, and on a more personal note, there's this:

I’ve been absent from the blogosphere, but for a good cause. I got engaged and will be married on the steps of City Hall in June. I also went to Mexico—just south of the border—for R&R.