California Governor Hopeful Gavin Newsom Rips President Obama at Plug In 2009 for Lack of Electric Car Commitment - EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

LONG BEACH, CA - August 12, 2009: San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom delivered the opening keynote speech on Tuesday at the Plug In 2009 Electric Vehicle conference in Long Beach, California. Newson, who has declared himself a gubernatorial candidate for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office, used the Plug In exposition to deliver a long and hard hitting green vehicle/energy policy statement.

Citing his deep personal interest in electric cars and fuel efficiency he told the several hundred attendees that it was he and San Francisco that was the first American city to replace units of the aging gasoline-powered taxi fleet with hybrid models, and not New York and Mayor Bloomberg. Said the SF mayor, “Mayor Bloomberg made his announcement on NBC’s national TODAY SHOW. I made my announcement one year earlier on local cable channel 24.” The remark drew a big laugh from the audience.

At the end of the speech the panel moderator engaged Newsom in a staged question and answer session (claiming that the questions were submitted by Internet “Twitters”). One query asked for Newsom’s opinion of Barak Obama’s “moon landing” mandate of having one million pure electric vehicles on the road by 2015. While the mayor said that he was proud of the Obama Administration, he felt that the call for just one million electric vehicles was a joke and insignificant. Newsom said that even in California, where there are about 25 million cars and trucks on the road, that one million electrics by 2015 is meaningless.

Click PLAY to watch Gavin Newsom's keynote speech