State Senate leader Toni Atkins is thinking seriously about running for governor of California. And hopefully she'll enter the race. Not that she necessarily should be elected. Maybe. Maybe not. It's way too early in the election process to decide who should succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, who will be termed out at the end of 2026. But it's not too early to know that Atkins, 61, would be a quality candidate worth considering - based on her experience, knowledge and demeanor.
So far, these Democratic candidates are officially running: Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis. Raising campaign money isn't a problem for her. Kounalakis and her housing developer father are mega-rich. She could practically pay for her own campaign. Additionally, she was a major Democratic fundraiser for years - that was her ticket to becoming the U.S. ambassador to Hungary in the Obama administration. And she has access to big-time political contributors. But she has been an obscure lieutenant governor. Unlike her predecessor, Newsom, who also was a former mayor of San Francisco, Kounalakis hasn't made any attention-getting waves in her first elective office. So she has a lot of public selling to do. State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. The former as
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