San Francisco Mayor’s Race Coming Into Focus

Matt Gonzalez’ revealing interview in our pages last week eliminated much of the speculation surrounding San Francisco’s 2007 Mayor’s race. Gonzalez strongly hinted he was looking to run, but would not be prepared to begin his candidacy on June 2, the date Supervisor Chris Daly picked for a “progressive convention” to select a mayoral candidate. Some onetime Gonzalez supporters believe that his stand has undermined the convention, since the progressive with the best chance of seriously contesting Mayor Newsom will not submit his name for consideration that day. Is this much ado about nothing, since Newsom is widely seen as unbeatable in November, or does Gonzalez, as in 2003, have a better sense of voters’ desires than political insiders?