You thinking of the next governor yet?

Instead, before the Swalwell scandal, the discussion was mainly about how it was a collective dud of a gathering. The equivalent of your spouse’s holiday work party. It got to the point that disgraced former U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell thought he could just slide in and be named belle of the ball. And it appeared everyone was set to just shrug and let the guy do it. Except for San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who likely knew the guy was a creep and thought he could do better. He can do better, we know that now.

But is he the best candidate for the job? Maybe if he was running for mayor of San Jose, where people know him, and well, he currently serves as mayor. We are a society of people who recognize names. We know Harris, we know Newsom, we know Padilla. Betty Yee? I do, but do most? Antonio Villaraigosa? Those of a certain age do. Name something Katie Porter has done aside from white boards. And name something she accomplished with those white boards. Exactly.

We know Tom Steyer, only because the tartan-tied rich guy has paid a lot for us to know him, which doesn’t feel like a very good deal to me. Anyone serious about Steyer is not serious. Steyer decided to focus on “affordability” by suggesting things like electricity deregulation and higher corporate taxes that will just make things less affordable. Remember the last time we tried deregulation? We got rolling blackouts. And do we really need higher taxes? Porter seems to think so. She wants to make college free and eliminate state taxes for those making under $100,000 by increasing corporate taxes. People know corporations are already leaving right? GOP front-runner Steve Hilton was smart enough to say he doesn’t want to raise taxes, but also wanted to eliminate state taxes for those making under $100,000 — yet without saying how that would be paid for. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco doesn’t seem he should be in this race, but he is also polling second so … .

There has been significant consternation, mainly among Democrats, that the top-tier primary envisioned to weed out extremists may just serve up two Republicans for the general election from which to choose. Weird.

So the thinking has been how to get one Democrat onto that general ballot. I have always liked Betty Yee. She is straightforward, practical and focused on the budget. Two terms as controller will do that. She is also a woman, and we’ve only had a female governor a few times and for brief periods when the actual governor or lieutenant governor were out of the state. California has a law that the governor is not the governor when he or she (sometime in the future) is out of state, so former state Senate President Toni Atkins was acting governor when both Gov. Jerry Brown and Lt. Gov. Newsom were out of state and Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis was acting governor when Gov. Newsom was out of state. The point of this small aside is that maybe the time is right for a female governor. But not this year. Porter has temperament problems, and the conduct of the governor is important.

So, here is my wrap. If you are Republican, vote for Hilton. If you are a Democrat, Mahan has good ideas and lots of specifics about government accountability (check his website), but is not really proven. He has six years elected experience. Who has surged in the polls lately is Xavier Becerra, the former California attorney general and U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, who also spent 24 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is thoughtful on growth, wants to make it easier to build housing and pragmatic about health care for all. He sued the Trump administration when he was AG, but also worked with it. He has the most political experience overall. The knock on him was that he didn’t exude charisma, but did Swalwell? Please say no. Perhaps the surge in polls is because people are waking up, shaking their heads and thinking maybe someone with experience and know-how isn’t that bad. An experienced manager who understands California values, its issues and won’t promise the world on issues that will never ever come to fruition and that we simply cannot afford. Someone who knows the state government and can manage it in a respectable and efficient way. Who is now standing out by being a standup guy. Wild right?