The race for California

Newsom, who'd be a progressive anywhere else in the country given his support of gay marriage and his efforts to bring universal healthcare to San Francisco, but who's merely a moderate in this ultraliberal city, insists it's Clinton, not Obama, who's the best candidate for liberals. When I spoke to him at the Orpheum in San Francisco on Friday, he zeroed in on healthcare and Obama's refusal to mandate that everyone somehow acquire health insurance. "'Universal' healthcare is crucial, and that's what makes it universal -- that's just fundamental," Newsom said. That very day Obama's controversial "Harry and Louise"-like anti-Clinton mailer had become public, and Newsom was seething. "That is not right. That's not right. It completely contradicts the message he's sending."

The Clinton campaign seems personal with Newsom. Blamed by some Democrats for costing John Kerry the election with his 2004 gay marriage gambit, Newsom, who has a streak of self-pity, has told me in the past that he believes he killed his chances for higher office with the move, and predicted he'd never be a sought-after endorsement in the 2008 presidential primary race. He's even told reporters that one of the three leading Democrats has refused to be photographed with him, though he wouldn't say who, but he took a hard shot at Obama just after he endorsed Clinton, for suggesting that civil unions are as good as marriage, noting that "Barack Obama and others are not running to get rid of their marriage licenses to become civil unions." By process of elimination, I suggested the camera-shy Democrat had to be Obama, but Newsom refused to comment. Still, he seems to appreciate Clinton's warm embrace, especially after a year marred by San Francisco's 10-year-high homicide rate as well as a personal scandal involving a messy affair with an aide's wife and the admission of an alcohol problem.

If Newsom is grateful for Clinton's public embrace, the gratitude may go in the other direction when it comes to a San Francisco Obama supporter, District Attorney Kamala Harris; she was one of the earliest elected officials to back his presidential bid. With polls showing Obama closing the gap with Clinton, and a slew of new elected officials endorsing him, Harris sounded tired but happy when we talked last Thursday. "I think it's possible to close the gap; it's narrowing. We've got an unbelievable field operation: 5,000 precinct captains, volunteers, making 10,000 calls a night." But Harris admitted Obama was "still the underdog," and she immediately began talking about the campaign's long-term strategy. "This will be a long struggle, long beyond Feb. 5, and he's the one who can sustain the momentum," she said.

Off the record, some California Obama supporters will confess they wish the campaign had devoted more resources to the state. Obama himself hasn't set foot in Northern California since Jan. 17, when he did an odd event at San Francisco's Women's Building, a supposedly intimate "round table" with four local women ringed by about 100 reporters, and then a fundraiser at the Fairmont that night. He did several events in Los Angeles before and after the CNN debate last week.

Asked if she thought the campaign had invested enough in California, and particularly in the Latino community, Harris paused. "There are never enough resources in a political campaign," she said. "The main resource is the candidate himself, and there's only one of him. Then there's Michelle. We've seen a lot of both of them, but there are a lot of states on Tuesday."

Others say it's faulty logic to second-guess the campaign's decisions in California. Yes, Obama invested hugely in the first four states, and second-guessers may wish some of those resources had gone into the delegate-rich state of California. But without his game-changing victories in Iowa and South Carolina and close second in New Hampshire, California wouldn't have been competitive enough for wistful "if onlys" about more time and resources here.

"Hindsight is 20-20," says Los Angeles School Board member Yolie Flores-Aguilar, an Obama supporter. "It's certainly been a challenge for us," she admits, to cut into Clinton's edge with Latino voters. Although Obama came out to L.A.'s famous Garfield High School soon after he announced his candidacy, and began courting California Latino leaders then, "Hillary Clinton has been known for so many years." Others say the campaign didn't help itself by opening an East L.A. office and hiring a liaison to Spanish-language media only in recent weeks.

Late or not, the recent outreach to Latinos is working at least to line up more elected officials. Obama has picked up endorsements from several Latino leaders in the past few weeks, including U.S. Reps. Linda Sanchez and Xavier Becerra as well as labor leader Durazo. And his campaign made a decision to highlight his support of driver's licenses for undocumented workers, even though at least one Obama staffer told me there was some concern that the decision could come back to haunt him in the general election. When I interviewed Obama supporters like state Sen. Gil Cedillo and education activist (and César Chávez granddaughter) Julie Chávez Rodríguez, Obama's driver's license stance was the first thing they cited as an example of why he's better for Latinos than Clinton.

But Clinton advisor Maria Echeveste insists Clinton will hold her lead among Latinos because they know she will keep her word. "People have pushed [Obama's] stand on driver's licenses. La Opinion endorsed him because of that and because he said he'd complete immigration reform in his first year," Echeveste notes. "I was appalled the paper would take that and believe it -- Hillary Clinton won't promise that, because she knows how hard the job is."

Next page: "The Clintons win by dividing"