Should the California GOP focus more on the Lieutenant Gov race than Gov race?

[JRP1994]

First of all, let me preface my proposition by saying that I am relatively uninformed about the specific candidates in 2014 California politics. I am familiar with Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom - beyond that, my knowledge of statewide candidates is virtually nonexistent.

I have been thinking, though - should the California GOP focus on taking out Gavin Newsom, rather than Jerry Brown? Looking at the results from Tuesday, Newsom appears to be in a less-sure position that Brown is -- despite having fewer opponents than Brown, Newsom failed to gain a majority of the vote, while Jerry Brown did. Newsom ran about 200,000 votes behind Brown in the raw count.

Now, I know the reason for this is simple - in almost every circumstance, more people care about the Gov race than the Lieutenant Gov race. This means that, in most cases, the turnout for a Lieutenant Gov race will be lower than the turnout for a Gov race. If this is the case, wouldn't the GOP have, at least in theory, a better shot at knocking off Newsom than they do of knocking off Brown?

Logically, it seems like a smarter play. Obviously, the GOP is going to be the underdog in statewide CA races. But what happens if, by some freak chance, Jerry Brown gets defeated? Presumably, the GOP would have to focus practically ALL of their resources on a herculean effort to oust him, presumably letting the lower-profile Lieutenant Gov race fall by the wayside. What will happen? Gavin Newsom will run for Governor in 2018, and will stand a good chance at being elected. However, if the GOP targets Newsom with that same energy, and are somehow able to knock him off, the Democrat party would lose one of its rising stars.

It seems like a smarter, more tactical, more long-term play to me. What do you think?