Looking ahead to 2010

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and California Attorney General Jerry Brown are joined by common ground. Both are high-profile Democrats and both are arming themselves for a 2010 run for governor. SF Chronicle.

But separating the two is a yawning difference that may define their futures as much as their pasts - a gulf of 30 years.

Two very different photos paint the picture of that generation gap. A family snapshot shows Newsom, circa 1974, on the steps of his Marina district home, a 6-year-old tow-headed tyke in a parochial school sailor suit uniform. Brown, then 36, graced the cover of Time Magazine in 1974, the year he was first elected California governor.