Edmund "G" Brown

    At 53, Jerry Brown may not be the oldest candidate for
 the Democratic nomination, but he surely has one of the
 longest track records. And hands down, the most unusual.
    The question about Jerry Brown is: Has he been out of
 office (and out of sight) long enough to put the "Governor
 Moonbeam" behind him? Or does he want to?
    Brown's idiosyncratic behavior as governor earned him
 that sobriquet. He gained a reputation for being quick to
 seize the latest trendy issues--then to forsake them by
 failing to carry through.
    As governor of California from 1975-83, Brown led the
 life of an ascetic. He drove a cheap blue Plymouth and
 refused to move into in the shiny new governor's mansion
 left him by his movie-star predecessor (Ronald Reagan).
    In his 8 years out of office, Brown lived for a time in a
 Zen Buddhist monastery in Japan and worked with Mother
 Theresa in Calcutta. Before entering politics, he had
 studied to be a priest.
    In addition to being elected governor twice (first at
 35), he ran twice for president and once for the US Senate.
 Counting primaries, he ran 17 campaigns in just 13 years.                                              BROWN    3 of 6
    Brown's return to politics began in 1989 when he was
 elected chairman of the California Democratic Party.
    He was widely criticized in 1990 for not doing enough to
 help get out the vote for Dianne Feinstein, who was narrowly
 defeated for governor by Republican Pete Wilson.
    Brown resigned as state Democratic chairman in February
 1991 to run for the US Senate. He was the front-runner in
 the polls (though behind in fund-raising) when he announced
 his renewed interest in being president instead. The
 announcement came in a 5000-word, 10-page letter to his
 followers in place of the usual news conference hoopla.

                        Brown's Program

    As governor, Brown pursued a generally populist agenda
 before tripping up on the tax-cutting Proposition 13, which
 he opposed at first.
    He drew both praise and scorn for his liberal ideals,
 unconventional management style and fascination with the
 future. At one time, he was involved in a high-profile
 relationship with singer Linda Ronstadt.
    He opposed nuclear power and the death penalty, but
 shocked fellow Democrats with his fiscal conservatism--down
 to carrying his own bags at the airport.
    During his administration, California liberalized laws
 for marijuana possession.
    His hesitancy to use pesticides in the Medfly infestation
 in 1981 on environmental grounds and his appointment of
 death-penalty opponent Rose Bird to the state Supreme Court
 lost him favor.
    With his popularity declining, Brown ran for the Senate
 in 1982 but was beaten handily by Republican Pete Wilson,
 who later became governor.

                       Brown's Campaign

    Brown announced he would run for president Oct 21 a long
 way from his West Coast home. He chose the historic backdrop
 of Philadelphia's Independence Hall, offering himself as a
 candidate in the tradition of Thomas Jefferson.
    He says he is running as a political outsider.
    "What I see for the Democratic Party is a restoration of
 its original spirit and theme as expressed by Jefferson,
 which was an anti-incumbent, anti-elite message to
 re-empower the working people." Brown says he won't accept
 individual campaign contributions over $100.