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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who propelled the debate over gay marriage but struggled to find a popular message outside the Bay Area, dropped his bid Friday for California governor.

The development leaves state Attorney General Jerry Brown, who has formed an exploratory committee, as the only Democrat making a serious bid to succeed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger next year.

A statement issued by Newsom's campaign cited time constraints and his growing family as the primary reasons for his withdrawal.

Newsom said he had concluded that he was unable to devote the time needed to run an effective campaign.
 
"With a young family and responsibilities at City Hall, I have found it impossible to commit the time required to complete this effort the way it needs to - and should be - done," he said in the statement.

Newsom said while he regretted being unable to continue, he felt the decision was in the best interests of his wife, young daughter and the city.
 
"This is not an easy decision," he said. "But it is one made with the best intentions for my wife, my daughter, the residents of the city and county of San Francisco, and California Democrats."

His announcement was not a surprise to those following the Democratic campaign. Newsom was unable to find the same popularity throughout California that he enjoyed in his home city.

He trailed Brown badly in fundraising and the polls, even though Brown has not officially announced his candidacy.

Brown had a 7-to-1 fundraising edge over Newsom and heavy financial support from unions, a core Democratic constituency. A Field Poll earlier this month showed Newsom trailing Brown by 20 points among likely Democratic voters.

Newsom failed to gain traction even after holding months of town hall meetings throughout the state and ringing up an endorsement from former President Bill Clinton.

A Clinton fundraiser that had tickets selling at up $50,000 a piece failed to give Newsom the financial boost he needed to compete with a likely run by Brown.

"He failed on both counts (fundraising and generating interest outside the Bay Area)," said Larry Gerston, a political science professor at San Jose State University. "He had pluses and minuses. But for whatever reason, as much time as Newsom spent around the state, he just couldn't gain traction. The more Newsom campaigned, the less effective he seemed to be."

Newsom's exit clears the way for the 71-year-old Brown, who has almost four decades of experience in California politics. He was elected to the first of his two terms as governor in 1974 and can run for the state's top position again because he served in the era before term limits were enacted.

"(Brown's) shadow loomed so large that Newsom could never see the sunlight," Gerston observed.

Newsom and Brown's families have known each other for decades, Gerston said. Brown has been involved in state politics since Newsom, 42, was a toddler.

Brown wished Newsom and his family well on Friday.

"Mayor Newsom is a talented public official, and I believe he has a bright future," Brown said.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein would be the favorite if she chose to enter the Democratic gubernatorial field, a decision she has said she would not make until early next year.

The Field Poll on Oct. 8 showed neither Brown nor Newsom came close to having Feinstein's appeal. Gil Duran, a spokesman for the senator, said "no immediate comment" when asked for her reaction to Newsom's withdrawal from the race.

California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton dismissed speculation that Feinstein would enter the race. He said Newsom, a longtime family friend, is a realist who decided he did not want to spend the next seven months in a primary contest he couldn't win.

"He wanted to be governor, he wanted to run for governor," Burton said. "And when he looked at the totality of it, he decided it wasn't in the cards at this time and he decided to get on with his life."

Newsom's campaign hinged on his appeal as a progressive, as he attempted to tap into the currents of change that helped sweep Barack Obama into the White House last year.

His successes in San Francisco on such issues as providing universal health care and promoting alternative energy became pillars of his gubernatorial campaign.

His high-profile entry into the race last spring was announced on Twitter, and he kept his supporters updated regularly via his Facebook page. Within minutes of posting his withdrawal announcement on Facebook, hundreds of supporters posted notes, many expressing disappointment.

Bill Whalen, a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, said Newsom bet, incorrectly, that technology and youthful progressivism would propel his campaign.

"He thought he could harness the youth vote and progressivism that propelled Obama, but the technology boom he was hoping for turned out to be a bust. The same enthusiasm doesn't necessary translate to other candidates," Whalen observed. 

Newsom is in his second term as mayor of California's fourth-largest city and is best known for directing city agencies in 2004 to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. While the courts quickly stopped the practice, Newsom's actions sent the debate over gay marriage to the forefront of California politics, beginning a series of court challenges and ballot initiatives.

Newsom struggled to define himself beyond gay marriage in the rest of the state. In last year's successful ballot campaign to ban same-sex marriage in California, supporters presented Newsom as the face of gay marriage advocates.

Newsom also entered the governor's race on the heels of an unseemly affair with the wife of his mayoral campaign manager. After admitting the dalliance in 2007, he sought treatment for a drinking problem.

After winning re-election later that year, he seemed to catch a second wind in office. Last year, he married actress Jennifer Siebel, who gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter, last month.

In bowing out of the race, Newsom's statement thanked his supporters and he vowed to continue to pursue the issues for which he cares deeply — universal health care, a cleaner environment, a green economy, better education and civil rights.

Whalen noted that by withdrawing early, Newsom saved himself from potential embarrassment and kept his options open.

He could still enter the lieutenant governor's race, and Feinstein's Senate term will be up in 2012. It was possible she might not run for re-election.

"If he ends San Francisco on a decent note he could possibly convert that into a Senate run," Whalen said.

Newsom's campaign declined to comment Friday on his future plans.

The California Republican Party reacted by issuing a statement that read, "Today's announcement by Mayor Newsom has little impact beyond the irony that the party that likes to lecture everyone about diversity is down to just one candidate for governor in an open seat election seven months before the primary."

GOP candidate Meg Whitman's campaign wished Newsom well and said Whitman looked forward to a spirited campaign against the eventual Democratic nominee.

A statement issued by the other prominent Republican candidate, Steve Poizner, described Newsom's withdrawal as an "abject surrender" and called for a debate between Brown, Poizner and other Republican candidates.

"We cannot let the fact that there is currently only one Democratic candidate become an excuse to avoid a necessary discussion of the crisis facing California," the Poizner campaign's statement said.

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