During a debate last night in California, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom appeared to put an end to rumors that he was considering replacing Joe Biden in the White House if he opts to not run for a second term. Maybe. Possibly. Sort of. His opponent in the upcoming election, Republican businessman and state senator Brian Dahle, tossed out a comment accusing Newsom of being “focused on running for president.” One of the moderators took Dahle up on his invitation and asked Newsom directly whether he would commit to serving out his full, four-year term if he is reelected next month. Newsom simply answered “yes.” But given how much time he seems to spend sparring with Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis, he certainly sounds like someone with his eyes on the White House. Still, the Governor has drawn a line in the sand now, so perhaps we can take his name down off of the big board. (Associated Press)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday vowed he would serve a full four-year term if reelected in November, trying again to knock down speculation that he wants to replace Democrat Joe Biden on the ballot should he not seek a second term.

Newsom made the promise during an hourlong debate with his Republican challenger, state Sen. Brian Dahle — the only time the two candidates will meet face to face before voting ends on Nov. 8.

Newsom is expected to easily win reelection in November more than one year after beating back a recall attempt fueled by anger at his pandemic policies — which included the nation’s first statewide stay-at-home order. He has barely campaigned in California this year, instead spending money on ads in challenging Republican leaders Florida and Texas — potential opponents in a presidential election.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Newsom might not change his mind later if conditions on the political ground change later this year. Yes, I know… I should give all of you a moment to recover from the shock of hearing a suggestion that a politician might lie about something during a debate. It’s very distressing.

While the pollsters sometimes get things wrong (an understatement if I’ve ever made one), the future of Brian Dahle’s campaign seems all too obvious. He’s being blown out of the water by Newsom, a man who barely avoided a recall last year. For reasons I will never understand, Californians seem ready to reward Gavin Newsom with four more years in office. And if that’s what they want, then they deserve everything they have coming to them.

Newsom is so confident of his upcoming victory that he hasn’t really even bothered campaigning this year. The debate last night was the only one that the two men had on the schedule and the early reviews of the performance suggest that there really weren’t any surprises. Newsom wanted to talk about abortion access and climate change while Dahle pushed a theme of high prices, inflation, and crime.

Perhaps Newsom’s biggest problem is that he appears to vastly overestimate his own popularity nationally. Frankly, he’s not all that popular in California. It just happens to be a state where managing to win the Democratic primary automatically give’s you the governorship. And there’s been no indication that Democrats across the rest of the nation are crying out for more Gavin Newsom.

But the day may be coming soon when they will have to make up their minds and come up with some potential names. For the time being, Joe Biden continues to insist that he will be running for a second term. But does anyone really believe it? The rest of his party are too polite to point this out and they seem to be quietly but desperately hoping that Biden will spare them the trouble and announce that he’ll be a “one and done” president. And despite his protestations this month, I won’t be at all shocked if Biden makes that announcement before Christmas. If so, will Gavin Newsom come bustling back into the limelight? Time will tell.