Jerry Brown to ‘Meet the Press’: Presidential Ambitions?

California Gov. Jerry Brown will be the featured guest on NBC News’ Meet the Press with host Chuck Todd this week. The interview is certain to raise questions about Brown’s possible presidential ambitions, at a time when frontrunner Hillary Clinton is being hit by a slew of new scandals involving her tenure as Secretary of State under President Barack Obama, including foreign donations to her private foundation and a hidden e-mail server that may have broken federal laws.

Brown has previously dismissed talk of a presidential run, having lost to Bill Clinton in the 1992 Democratic Party primary, even though Democrats have been enthusiastic about his performance as California governor, now in his fourth term. However, Todd has been one of the most promenent Beltway journalists to tout Brown’s potential as a “dark horse” candidate in 2016. Last July, Todd predicted on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that Brown would challenge Hillary Clinton.

“I still think the person that is most likely to do this is going to be Jerry Brown. And he equally is a nemesis to the Clintons in a way that is different from Al Gore but also possesses every one of those attributes that Mark was talking about Al Gore, other than winning Iowa and winning the popular vote. Jerry Brown’s resume with the left and populist movement is as strong, if not stronger,” Todd said, adding that Clinton “can’t just go unchallenged until the general election.”

Brown has recently spent time in Washington, D.C. Last week, he met with Obama administration officials to discuss a variety of policy issues, and bashed Republicans for their opposition to the president’s executive amnesty for illegal aliens. He was also a guest of the Washington Post at the super-elite Gridiron Dinner.

Brown would be 78 years old upon his inauguration as the nation’s 45th president in 2017, were he to win the nomination and the election next year.