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A Northern Governor Would be first in California since 60s

The last time California elected a governor from Northern California, John F. Kennedy was president, the San Francisco Giants had just won their first National League pennant, and Gavin Newsom, now San Francisco’s mayor, had not been born. It was 1962 when Gov. Edmund G. Brown won a second term by defeating Richard M. Nixon.

Since then, six Southern Californians have filled the state’s top office: two Hollywood actors, three career politicians and Mr. Brown’s son, Jerry, who was living in Los Angeles when he began his political career in 1969 and when he was first elected governor five years later.

But that pattern seems almost certain to change next year.

All five major candidates for governor are from the Bay Area. Mr. Newsom and Jerry Brown, who is a Northern Californian again, lead the Democratic race. And on the Republican side, Meg Whitman, a business woman; Steve Poizner, the state insurance commissioner; and former Representative Tom Campbell all hail from the Bay Area.
Read entire article at NYT