San Francisco Mayoral Race

The residents of San Francisco will go to the polls today to elect a new mayor. Gavin Newsom, Democrat, is opposed by Matt Gonzalez of the Green Party in the race for the position being vacated by Willie Brown due to term limitations.

The primary issue in the race is whether to continue paying the homeless or to stop paying the homeless. Gonzalez is for continued payments and labels himself as a 'progressive.' Newsom wants to stop paying the homeless and calls himself a 'moderate.' On the other hand, Gonzalez supporters call Newsom a 'conservative' and Newsom supporters say Gonzalez is 'out of touch.'

Even the residents are amused. Both candidates want to fire the police chief and the fire chief. Both want to increase taxes and, at the same time, welfare benefits. In fact, both are so off-the-reservation lefties that the only substantive difference in their campaign rhetoric is the paying the homeless issue. As an example of the extreme leftism, though it's not a campaign issue, Gonzalez wants to eliminate citizenship requirements for voting. Newsom is unclear on the subject.

Regardless of the political implications, today's mayoral race in San Francisco is important for its off-the-charts entertainment value. Frankly, that's the only reason for anyone to be interested. The outcome has absolutely no chance of making the city a better place.

[Update 12/09/03, 4am] Commentary from PoliBlog includes a post slamming a few conservatives which Interested-Participant will not support nor dispute at this time. However, the post is titled Today's List: Annoying Conservatives and I wish to comment that this past week's greatest list by far is the ballot in the San Francisco Mayoral Election. If the names on the ballot listed any more politically left, people would have to stand on their heads to read it. (Ref: Beltway Traffic Jam at OTB)