Opinion: Another day, another Clinton endorsement

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San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom joined the Hillary Rodham Clinton bandwagon this afternoon, a day after state Sen. Sheila Kuehl of Santa Monica announced that she too is backing the former first lady.

Endorsements usually don’t carry an awful lot of weight with voters, but Clinton’s list --– which includes U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez –-- says at least one thing: She’s the favorite of the state’s core Democratic elected leadership.

With her strong lead in California polls, she’s obviously the candidate to beat. But one has to wonder at this stage of the game, given sentiments among progressives that the Democratic Congress hasn’t been confrontational enough with President Bush over the war in Iraq, whether being perceived as the party’s mainstream favorite will help Clinton or hurt her during the California primary.

-- Scott Martelle