Regardless of what you think of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s policies, watching him, as I have for 20 years, shows a political pro at work. He will obviously run for president, possibly in 2024. But he might seek to avoid the potential Democratic wipeouts in 2022 and 2024, waiting until 2028 to run.
The trick for a serious candidate for president in either party is, first, to make the “base” happy, while eventually moving toward the middle to gather in moderates. As President Nixon once put it in his Republican context, “You can’t win without the conservatives, but also you can’t win only with them.”
Like everyone, Newsom saw how Democrats lost Virginia last month. Their candidate, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, gained the strong backing of the radical teachers unions. But he offended moderates, and even many liberal Democrats, by committing such offenses as saying parents shouldn’t have any say on their kids’ schooling.
Enter Newsom’s statement on abortion and guns. The issue involves a Texas law allowing private parties to sue to stop abortions. The U.S. Supreme Court decided to allow the law to stand, but will review it again later.
“I am outraged by yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing Texas’ ban on most abortion services to remain in place,” Newsom said in a statement. “If states can now shield their laws from review by the federal courts that compare assault weapons to Swiss Army knives, then California will use that authority to protect people’s lives, where Texas used it to put women in harm’s way.”
This brought a rejoinder from constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley in an op-ed on Fox News. “It won’t work,” he said. “Legally, that is. It will be hugely successful politically, but not without costs to the state and potential litigants.”
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https://www.theepochtimes.com/gov-newsom-preps-presidential-run-with-guns-and-abortion_4162209.html