Thread by @lxeagle17

A hot-button issue has been “should CA Dems have picked a backup on the recall ballot?”

No. Newsom’s goal is to turn out Dem voters. Adding another D candidate splinters the vote and means some might vote Yes on recall and Yes to the replacement to get them into the office.

“Why not just have everyone coalesce around No and then have a backup just in case?”

Because that’s not how it works. Voters are messy, campaigns are messy, and there will be some defections from folks who are anti-Newsom and love the Dem alternative. You don’t want infighting.

The absolute last thing you want is a war on two fronts — you don’t need to fight your base and the opponents at the same time. “No on Recall, Yes on Bustamante” failed spectacularly in 2003 and led to the end of the careers of basically everyone involved.

In general, a good rule of thumb is that if something seems too simple and too good to be true, it probably is. Besides, given gaps in partisan support for Yes on recall…if Yes wins, the Dem won’t be winning.

"What about the first-past-the-post aspect of this election?"

Newsom is the boss of CA Dems. His goal is to preserve his governorship. His camp is likely not going to support a Dem backup if it doesn't help him win. And the other Dem camp would probably undercut Newsom a bit too

Essentially, here's the problem: any Dem good enough to coalesce the "No" vote around them on the second question (and some exist who can!) also probably inadvertently drives up the likelihood of recall succeeding because of factionalism. Newsom isn't going to approve that.