And then there were two.
When Nathan Fletcher announced he was the jumping into the race to replace San Diego's disgraced mayor Bob Filner, he stood on the waterfront, the ocean glittering behind him. It was a perfect backdrop as he talked one-on-one with reporters.
So perhaps it was fitting that he once again stood in front of the sea, this time in La Jolla, when he conceded his role in the mayor's race.
This time Fletcher did not talk to reporters individually. Instead he addressed them all at once, and told them about his morning.
He described how his sons woke him up early, asking for a gourmet breakfast. “In all honesty, it’s just eggs and bacon with cheese melted on top,” he said. “But they think it’s gourmet.” Fletcher said after spending time with his family he went surfing with a friend, and then to work.
That, he said, will be his routine from now on. No more campaign events, no more endorsements, no more lawn signs or negative ads, instead Fletcher will step back into private life.
As a newly minted Democrat, Fletcher said he faced slings and arrows from both sides of the aisle. Republicans rallying behind Kevin Faulconer challenged him on his speedy year-long metamorphosis from Republican to Independent to Democrat, while David Alvarez supporters questioned his liberal street cred.
Fletcher said it’s hard to fight back when the fire is coming from all sides.
Fletcher said he called both his opponents to congratulate them. He is throwing his support behind fellow Democrat Alvarez. “He’ll make a great mayor,” he said, declining to say if he would actively campaign for him.
In what felt like both a goodbye to politics and a return to life outside the media gaze, Fletcher walked slowly out of the frames of the waiting cameras. His figure became smaller and smaller as his silhouette receded in the distance, transforming him one more time into a man no longer racing to be mayor.
