Jerry Brown wins a fourth term as California Governor

California Governor Jerry Brown was just re-elected to a fourth term, the first person ever elected four times as Governor in the state. Carly Schwartz reports in Jerry Brown Coasts To Re-Election With Nonexistent Campaign Huffington Post 11/04/2014:

California voters re-elected Jerry Brown for governor Tuesday, marking the first time in the state's history that a gubernatorial candidate won a fourth term.

Brown, a Democrat, defeated Republican challenger Neel Kashkari, according to the AP. In a victory speech outside the Governor's mansion in Sacramento, Brown said he considered his historic fourth term to be a "gift."

"Being where I am tonight is extremely bold. I didn't get here by being pusillanimous," he added. [my emphasis]

As of this writing, the Sacramento Bee is showing Jerry's winning percentage as 58.7%.

Jerry Brown came on strong on Tuesday

In this Young Turks segment, they analyze one of the worst political ads ever, from Mark Pryor in Arkansas, in which he literally waves around a Bible, Why Democrats Lost 11/04/2014:

After they show the Pryor ad, Ana Kasparian expresses her joy over the California results: "California is the s**t!"

But a Democrat can actually read the Bible out loud without sounding like a schmuck.

Or, at least, Jerry Brown can.

In 1980, anti-tax zealot Howard Jarvis got a follow-up to 1978's Proposition 13 on the ballot that would basically have slashed state services by a third. (Proposition 9) Jerry was in his 2nd term as Governor then. He kicked off the No campaign by explaining straightforwardly what it would do in terms of services. He finished it with (quoting from memory), "And now I would like to read a passage from the Bible." Then he picked up a Bible and read the passage from Matthew 25 about how the nasty Republicans who pretend to be pious are all going to Hail.

The speech set the tone for the No campaign, which was successful. In fact, it was that No campaign that stopped the slash-and-burn mania that Prop 13 had kicked off in 1978. His use of the Bible was very effective. Of course, Jerry the former Jesuit seminarian knows more about the Bible than most theologians, forget preachers or an Arkansas Senators aspiring to a new career as a lobbyist.

BTW, he did it again in 2012 in support of his successful Prop 30 to raise taxes for five years to support socialistic projects like public schools. David Siders, Jerry Brown invokes New Testament in Prop. 30 tax campaign Sacramento Bee 08/02/2012


(Don't miss RJ Escrow's comment starting around 6:35.)

Here are two Sacramento Bee videos of Jerry's brief comments after winning on Tuesday evening. Jerry Brown claims victory 11/04/2014:

Jerry Brown touts 'grit, guts, imagination' 11/04/2014