Essential California Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Wednesday, Feb. 10, and I’m writing from Los Angeles. As the signature gathering deadline for the effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom fast approaches, the governor’s recent COVID-19 press conferences have taken on a unique twist. Along with the usual pandemic announcements, elected officials are now offering mini-testimonials to the governor’s on-the-job performance from behind the podium. The tone has, at times, resembled something between a campaign event and the direct-to-camera interviews on “The Bachelor,” with local Democrats extoling Newsom’s virtues. The governor, they’ll have you know, is a great leader, a great guy and definitely here for the right reasons. “Governor, you’ve had an impossible job,” San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said Monday, adding that he wanted the people of San Diego to know how much Newsom had done for them. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria was equally grateful for Newsom’s “tremendous leadership” and “thrilled” to have him visiting the city. “I cannot tell you how lucky we are in California to have Gavin Newsom as our governor,” Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said last week, while twice noting how great Newsom was. Soon after, state Sen. Nancy Skinner told Californians she wanted to be very clear about who was responsible for stemming the state’s brutal coronavirus surge: “It is Gov. Newsom that we can thank for that drop.” The accolades go on, but you get the idea. On Tuesday, the list of allies vocally backing Newsom got a little bit longer. President Biden entered the fray, with his press secretary tweeting that Biden “clearly opposes” any effort to recall Newsom. [Read the story: “Biden opposes effort to recall Newsom, White House says” in the Los Angeles Times] As my Sacramento colleague Phil Willon reports, Press Secretary Jen Psaki issued the statement in a tweet Tuesday afternoon shortly after she fielded a question about Biden’s position on the recall effort during a White House briefing and responded that she had not discussed the matter with the president. The lovefest comes amid recent public opinion polls that have shown Newsom’s job approval ratings plummeting, driven largely by discontent over the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As Phil explains in his story, that drop has only added fuel to the ongoing recall campaign against the governor, which has yet to qualify for the ballot. The March 17 deadline for signature gathering is a little more than a month away. And now, here’s what’s happening: Senate votes that Trump impeachment trial is constitutional: After a widely panned opening-day performance by the legal team of former President Trump, the Senate voted Tuesday that the Constitution allows for his impeachment trial to proceed for actions he committed while in office. The 56-to-44 vote clears the path for up to four days of arguments on whether Trump should be convicted for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. House impeachment managers begin their case Wednesday. Los Angeles Times More California elementary school students could begin returning to their classrooms by the spring if Newsom and lawmakers settle their differences over when teachers and staff receive COVID-19 vaccinations, an agreement the governor suggested Monday could be reached in the next few days. Los Angeles Times