THE former California governor Jerry Brown, whose public career imploded so spectacularly that he went into exile working for Mother Teresa in Calcutta, is on the brink of an extraordinary political comeback.

Polls say the liberal Democrat once derided as “Governor Moonbeam” for his unconventional ideas is the favoured Democrat candidate to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger next year as governor of California.

The 71-year-old comeback kid has raised three times as much campaign money as his closest Democrat rival, Gavin Newsom, 41, the youthful mayor of San Francisco.

Last week Brown, who has not yet formerly declared his candidacy, said that he will retreat to a monastery over the next few weeks to “consider my options and what it would mean for me, my family and the state of California”.

As governor, Brown was known for his quirky politics and desire to give California its own space agency; he also became associated with antiVietnam war protesters such as Jane Fonda, a love of Latin quotations and a string of girlfriends, including Linda Ronstadt, the singer.

Born into politics, he considered becoming a Roman Catholic priest and once took a vow of chastity. The son of Pat Brown, who was governor of California from 1959 to 1967, Brown Jr took over from Ronald Reagan. Now he hopes to replace another actor turned governor.

He will be seeking to recast his controversial past to his advantage. His two terms in office ended in 1983 and he ran for the US Senate in 1982, a race that he lost.

Three runs for president also ended in failure.

Brown went into exile, wandering Asia in search of peace, which he found in Japan studying Buddhism and in India working with Mother Teresa. “I would rather be there than in the jungle of Californian politics,” he said last week.

So why would Brown, currently attorney-general of California, want to governa state saddled with $56 billion in public debt, a deadlocked local administration and a burgeoning reputation for being “ungovernable”. He prefers the milder term “dysfunctional”, saying that California has been in worse straits before.

The latest poll gives hima 20% lead over Newsom. Both Democrats are well ahead of their main Republican rival Meg Whitman, former chief executive of eBay, who has run a low-key campaign.

Brown’s wife, Anne Gust, who met her husband in 1990 when she was trying to fix a friend up with the politician, has a theory on what makes Jerry run: “He talks political ideas at breakfast, at lunch and at night in bed. He just cannot stop.”

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