Newsom’s Shaky Political Future : Indybay

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 : Since winning election in 2003, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has been a rising political star. His landmark support for gay marriage, followed by the California Supreme Court’s endorsing it as a “fundamental right,” left Newsom the candidate to beat in the 2010 Governor’s race. But Prop 8’s victory lent a double blow to Newsom: one of his speeches was highlighted in the opposition’s media blitz, and he did not tour the state – as Harvey Milk is shown doing during 1978’s Prop 6 campaign in the film Milk – seeking to win hostile audiences to his side.

Yet Newsom’s political prospects may be more endangered by a factor entirely unrelated to Prop 8: his alienating many of the San Francisco Democrats whose support he will need in the 2010 primary. These are the Democrats who backed new Supervisors John Avalos, David Campos, David Chiu and Eric Mar against Newsom’s selections, and who voted for the Peskin-Daly led “Hope” slate for the Democratic County Central Committee. Newsom is putting himself in the position Louise Renne found herself in her congressional race against Barbara Boxer in 1982 – losing the San Francisco support needed to prevail.

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