What Padilla does for Newsom

State Sen. Alex Padilla's title as campaign chair may help Gavin Newsom grab some Latino votes away from Jerry Brown, but even Padilla's political mentor — James Acevedo — says it's an uphill battle. Brown's bona-fides among Latinos date back to Cesar Chavez and the farmworkers. From Jerry Roberts and Phil Trounstine at Calbuzz:

We asked Padilla what he will point to about Newsom to convince Latinos to support him instead of Brown (who was an ally of Caesar Chavez’s, signed the Agricultural Relations Act into law, appointed Cruz Reynoso to the California Supreme Court and Mario Obledo to his cabinet).

“I’m not going to say anything different to the Latino community than I will to anybody else,” Padilla told us. “Latinos care about the same things all other voters care about.”

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As for Newsom’s close association with gay marriage, “I don’t think it’ll be any more or less of an issue (with Latinos) than it will be for any other voters,” Padilla said. “It’s not a concern to me that it will be an issue that will impede him in reaching out to Latino voters.”

In other words, there’s nothing about Newsom that Padilla can cite to appeal specifically to Latinos and to chip away at Brown’s history among that important cohort of voters.

Acevedo told Tony Castro of the Daily News: "Few people know Newsom outside his own city, and I think it’s going to be tough for him to try to create a constituency among Latinos.”

Noted: Mavor Villaraigosa (and Lu Parker) met with Jane Goodall on the recent trip to Africa, Patt Morrison says.