SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Jerry Brown is on the verge of doing what no one has ever done in California and what no one may ever do again: get elected to a fourth term as governor.
After sidelining opponents and steadying the state’s finances, the quirky 76-year-old Democrat is looking to put his stamp on the state’s water and transportation infrastructure and playing statesman on global climate change, recently addressing a UN Climate Change conference.
Brown’s relative success at wresting control of the state’s once-massive budget deficit and his skill at distancing himself from political controversies have helped him eclipse his 1970s reputation as the “moonbeam” governor. His reemergence has even fueled speculation that he might make a fourth run for president against the unannounced front-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
When asked about the possibility Friday, Brown told The Associated Press “there’s a lot of speculation and I’m not here to comment on speculation.”
Few in California think it’s likely, partly because he is still working to secure a legacy as governor that is at least equal to that of his father, a former governor who built the state’s water system that is now in need of an overhaul amid California’s historic drought.