Here's a positive article on Oakland City Councilmember Jean Quan in her uphill battle to become Mayor of Oakland. It's from Oakland North and it's entitled, "Jean Quan embraces "underdog" status in mayor's race: "Im not intimidated.""

Jean Quan will be the first to admit she is not expected to win next year’s Oakland mayor’s race. But she’s also the first to say her chances are better than a lot of people think. “I have, in every race I’ve run in, been outspent and have been the underdog,” Quan said in a phone interview. “I’m not intimidated.”

An Oakland City Council member since 2003, Quan issued a press release in mid-September announcing her decision to form an exploratory committee for the 2010 race. She has said she will run if she gathers 500 volunteers and raises $380,000, the maximum allowed for an Oakland mayor’s race.

“I think that goal is a challenge to my supporters,” Quan said. “To win, I need to prove I’m a viable candidate. I need to sign up 500 volunteers. Grassroots volunteers offset political machine money. I also expect to raise the $380,000 allowed by campaign financing limits to reach voters citywide. My opponent will have a lot of independent expenditures made outside those limits, but my grassroots support can beat that back.”

Quan was born in Oakland but raised in Livermore, where her father was in the restaurant business. Every summer her mother sent her to stay with relatives in the Oakland area—to maintain her Chinese culture, she said, since there was not a large Chinese presence in the Livermore area. She attended recreation programs and summer school at Oakland Tech.

Before she was elected to the City Council, Quan spent 12 years as an Oakland school board member, serving District 4, which includes the Laurel, Montclair and Dimond districts. Prior to her school board service, she organized a group called Save Our Schools to address funding cuts to arts and music programs in Oakland schools. Her two children, William and Lailan Huen, are Skyline High School graduates. She and her husband, Dr. Floyd Huen, both attended U.C. Berkeley and have lived in Oakland for more than 30 years.

The article goes on to discuss Quan's chances and notes that she has left her some room to not enter the race. It will be interesting to see if momentum continues to build for her race.