Delaine Eastin Picks Up Some Progressive Endorsements

Although trailing badly in the polls gubernatorial candidate Delaine Eastin has picked up endorsements from two key gay leaders and the left-wing San Francisco Bay Guardian.

But will those nods do her any good?

On Tuesday, former Supervisors Harry Britt and Tom Ammiano announced their support for Eastin. They touted her record on gay rights and education.

Britt, who succeeded Harry Milk on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors following his murder in 1979, said that as California public schools chief, a post she held from 1995 to 2003, “Delaine was one of the first leaders in the country to stand up for the rights of LGBT students.”

“Delaine doesn’t just talk the talk, she walks the walk.”

Ammiano, also a former teacher and assemblyman, said that, “I have watched Delaine’s lifetime of advocacy for education and her skill as a legislator and I know she will do great things for California.”

The endorsement from the San Francisco Bay Guardian last week was lukewarm with most of the 176 word post on the gubernatorial race devoted to trash-talking Newsom and pooh-pooing rival Antonio Villaraigosa, the former Los Angeles mayor.

The website lamented that “the only credible woman running for governor of California has gotten so little attention,” saying she was overshadowed in a race “dominated by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was a terrible mayor of San Francisco, a worthless Lite Guv who sued his own city to allow more development on the waterfront, and a candidate who makes promises that we—who have watched him for many years—know he won’t keep.”

Villaraigosa wasn’t much better, the lefty SFBG advised. “Newsom has always been a corporate Democrat. Villaraigosa has a lot of offer, but it’s hard to back someone who was at war with the teachers union in his home town.”

So that left Eastin, whose leftist instincts align with the Bay Guardian.

“She is the only candidate who is (really) committed to reforming Prop. 13, to single-payer health care, and to radically changing the state’s priorities. We are proud to endorse her.”

University of California at San Diego political science professor Thad Kousser told California Globe that the endorsements will help, but concluded, “I don’t think they’ll put the race in play for her.”

He added that people who read the San Francisco Bay Guardian had already probably made up their mind about Newsom and they were not going to vote for him anyway.