I met Jerry Brown once. I was a journalism student at California State University Northridge, and Brown stopped by on a campaign swing during his first run for the California governor’s office. I was lucky enough to draw the straw to interview him. We spent half an hour closeted in a small office at KCSN-FM, the NPR radio station run out of CSUN. He was articulate, passionate, and considering that I was just a 18- or 19-year-old J student, he was amazingly accommodating.

After serving a couple terms as mayor of Oakland, Brown reportedly has his sights set on the California attorney general’s office. Coincidentally, he’s launched a blog. Given what we know about Brown, I have no doubt at all that he’s writing his own posts. Two posts have appeared so far—one a duplicate of a letter Brown wrote to the San Francisco Chronicle about an Oakland curfew for parolees, the second a follow-up. He plans to limit his blog writing to 15 minutes a day, according to a Chronicle report.

He’s also allowing comments—and getting plenty of them. He’s leaving the unflattering comments on the blog, like one that challenged his assertion that Oakland is doing great: “Moonbeam, you’re still hitting the pot pretty hard, aren’t you?” Brown is used to the kinds of comments he’s getting, considering he spent a fair amount of time as a radio talk show host with a liberal bent.

But most of the comments have been enthusiastic, welcoming Brown to the blogosphere. Because his detractors never took him too seriously—remember, he was Governor Moonbeam and his blog has already been dubbed the “Moonblog” by some—Brown’s blog probably won’t be held up as an example of mainstream politicians embracing blogs. There’s not much mainstream about Jerry Brown. But his first osts take a tough stand on crime and the blog’s ability to present a side of himself about which his audience may not have been aware could have an impact on both perceptions of his politics and his run for the AG’s office.