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Politics Insider Willie Brown Says Gavin Newsom Would Be Good Choice For Veep In Clinton Campaign

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- In an interview broadcast Sunday on KPIX-TV, former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown said that California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom would be a good choice for vice president in a presidential campaign with Hillary Rodham Clinton topping the Democratic Party ticket.

"Gavin would be an ideal person on Hillary's ticket," Brown told KPIX 5's Phil Matier.

"Believe me, he could take care of the issue ... of same-sex marriage," Brown said in reference to Newsom's history as mayor of San Francisco when, in 2004, he directed the S.F. county clerk to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

"He [Newsom] could do the number with reference to marijuana for those who are ill and sick [and] he could do a fabulous job on the relationship with all of those people who go for just looks," Brown added.

Responding to a suggestion that the current vice president might be a credible alternative for the Democratic Party should Clinton stumble, Brown -- who served for 15 years as Speaker of the California State Assembly -- was dismissive.

"There is no way in the world that [Governor] Jerry Brown would let somebody who looks like Joe Biden beat him to the line," Brown said, adding emphatically, "Jerry would be far more interesting than Biden could ever dream of being!"

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