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Newsom’s Bid for Governor Halted?

Written by Luke Thomas. Posted in Opinion, Politics

Published on November 06, 2008 with 8 Comments


Mayor Gavin Newsom on the occasion of celebrating a California Supreme Court decision
that ruled same-sex marriage couples have the legal right to marry, 5/15/08.
Photos by Luke Thomas

By Luke Thomas

November 6, 2008

It’s tough to dump on a guy when he’s down, but Mayor Gavin Newsom’s bed was made when it was decided his 2007 mayoral reelection was all but guaranteed -  if he just championed same-sex marriage in San Francisco.

That was when Newsom and his one-move-ahead handlers weren’t thinking beyond the insulated confines of Room 200, or about a possible run for governor in 2010, or the political risks associated with pitting same-sex marriage against an army of well-organized religious fundamentalists.

Had Californians torpedoed Prop 8 Tuesday, Newsom would be riding high today, deserving to express the ill-advised glee that agitated the Yes on Prop 8 hornets nest. But with the passage of Prop 8, questions about Newsom’s political survival are justifiably being raised.

To add insult to injury, all indicators point to Newsom losing his bid to undo an eight-year progressive majority on the Board of Supervisors and the ultimate prize of controlling its agenda through its presidency.

Of course, Mr. Newsom will be most remembered for his courage in championing an important civil rights issue, no matter how the idea got its footing. But gifting his opponents the very weapon used to defeat same-sex marriage is the mistake likely to have ended his bid for California governor – and it may be his political Waterloo.

Luke Thomas

Luke Thomas

Luke Thomas is former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, has published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521.

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  • Matt Stewart

    Perhaps I’m being petty, but I can’t help but relish the fact that Newsom is getting bitch-slapped by the Chronicle for once in his life. And by Phil Bronstein, of all people.

  • marcb

    The slight glint of sunshine out of the loss of Prop 8 is that Newsom’s political hopes have been harpooned.

    After Newsom had opportunely absconded the gay marriage issue, claimed it as his own, and then received unprecendented local/national acclaim he believed that he had inflated his political likeness to be bigger than the issue himself. This was a political opportunity to move social consciousness forward and to bring more people together but instead the issue was used to hit one another over the head with ideology. People don’t like getting hit over the head.

    It is unfair to blame Newsom wholly for the loss of Prop 8 but his resume for Governor is too sparse, too spotty, and too divisive to be taken seriously.

  • http://www.polidoc.blogspot.com babette hogan

    Much as this would seem to fracture Newsom’s gubernatorial run, he’s still got the big Dem fems behind him: Clinton, Feinstein, Pelosi… I don’t think they were preening anyone else for the job. So who would run for the Dems with the swells approval?

  • marcb

    Pelosi isn’t going to chance getting shit on her party shoes and risk the big national opportunites that await Democrats for hapless Newsom.

    Clinton might give a viable Newsom Guv campaign a boost but she isn’t going to step forward and volunteer to play witch doctor and publicly attempt voodoo to return life to a dead man. HC doesn’t have enough positive aura capital to risk being associated with another losing inter-party campaign.

    Feinstein, it has been suggested plenty is interested in the Governor’s job herself and is likely to name Ellen Tauscher to replace her in the US Senate.

    Newsom needs to initiate a dramatic turn in his political fortune and his miserable track record indicates that he hasn’t have it in him.

    As said in North Beach, “Ciao Bello.”

  • marc

    Not having to be burdened by ordering the issuing of press releases, Newsom will have more time on his hands for white wine, hookers and blow!

    Of course, Newsom could redeem himself and actually work with the legislative branch to find common sense solutions to common problems, but that would require Newsom actually growing into his role as Mayor and governing.

    -marc

  • http://District5Diary Rob Anderson

    As usual you progs have it all wrong on Newsom. It took no political courage to advocate gay marriage in San Francisco in 2004. In fact Newsom screwed the Democrats nationwide by making that initiative early in the year before the presidential election. By doing so he handed the Republicans an issue to use in defeating John Kerry in November, 2004.

    Newsom’s great achievement and boldest political move was—and continues to be—on homelessness, the issue that got him elected in 2003. The fact that his political opponents never mention homelessness any more is evidence of his sucess on the issue. Since 2003 he’s initiated a number of practical and humane measures to deal with homelessness, which is clearly now a permanent part of the social landscape of every city in the country—-Care Not Cash, Project Homeless Connect, Homeward Bound, and the emphasis on supportive housing.

  • R.S.

    I watched Newsom on MSNBC today try to explain the Prop 8 vote given the overwhelming victory of Obama in CA. He termed it “inexplicable.” I couldn’t help but observe that he seemed to be distancing himself from the matter as just one more move in his bid to become governor or perhaps present himself on the national stage. He did a good job of explaining California’s national leadership in social progress, which includes the abolishing of the ban on interracial marriage in the late 40s, but nonetheless, he came across as less than convincingly sincere. If he intends to pursue a political career beyond SF, he ought to master the prime directive of politics: once you learn to fake sincerity, you’ve got it made. He doesn’t have it made yet.

  • rzu

    Also interesting to note who’s been picked to help with Obama’s Transition Economic Advisory Board:
    http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/7/11228/3747/288/656688

    Look there, second from last…. Antonio Villaraigosa