S.F. leftists warily ask if Newsom is for real

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | April 6, 2004 | John Wildermuth, Chronicle Political Writer

[Cincinatus' Wife]

.........Supervisors such as Sandoval, Aaron Peskin and Jake McGoldrick also are facing re-election in November and know that full-out opposition from an increasingly popular mayor would make their races a lot tougher.

Many of the city's progressive leaders don't know what to make of Newsom's populist leanings. They aren't sure whether he is operating from principle or politics when he repeats many of their own lines.

"The fear is that (Newsom is) building up some credibility on the progressive side, and then in a year or so the hammer will come down on groups like us,'' said Ted Gullicksen, executive director of the San Francisco Tenants Union.

What people are seeing now is the real Newsom, not the conservative straw man that was set up by his opponents and battered in the harsh back-and-forth of a typically contentious election campaign, Jaye said.

"Gavin Newsom isn't co-opting anyone's positions,'' he said. "Now he has an opportunity to communicate where he stands and what he believes with less distortion than in a campaign.

"He's able to let people take a look at his real views.''

According to studies by Binder, about 25 percent of San Francisco's voters call themselves progressives. These voters are younger, more ideological and farther to the left than the 30 percent of the city's voters who bill themselves as liberal. In December's mayoral election, the progressives went strongly for Gonzalez, while the liberals, who include many old-line Democrats, split their votes between Newsom and Gonzalez. .............

E-mail John Wildermuth at jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com.

©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ

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[Cincinatus' Wife]

***According to studies by Binder, about 25 percent of San Francisco's voters call themselves progressives. These voters are younger, more ideological and farther to the left than the 30 percent of the city's voters who bill themselves as liberal.***

_________________

Pretty creepy.

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[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Since Newsom makes gays dreams come true shouldn't he be known as "The Fairy Fairy"?

[Clemenza]

Percentages for NYC are about the same, with a slightly higher percentage of "liberals."

Gavin Newsom: Mayor Metrosexual

[sheik yerbouty]

Maybe "the butt fairy".

[Cincinatus' Wife]

They don't know whether to love him or hate him. He certainly is the politician's politician.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The blue zones.

[Jaysun]

I know of one reasonable thing that everyone could do which would result in the end of liberalism. If everyone would simply seek the facts of an issue before taking a moral or political stance on that issue, liberalism would be dead. That's why the younger crowd often leans to the left. Besides being indoctrinated in public 'schools' and being duped into thinking that liberalism is cool, they're notoriously ignorant of the facts. Most of them couldn't tell you who Dick Cheney is.

[blanknoone]

So San Franciscans have to figure out if he is a communist, or if he just told them he was communist to get their vote?

[adam_az]

"Most of them couldn't tell you who Dick Cheney is"

Other than "Didn't he used to run HALIBURTON!!!"

hahahahah.

As if that's a bad thing?

I guess to really have cred you need to shoot heroin in the anarchist reading room on the Haight street.

[Jaysun]

Other than "Didn't he used to run HALIBURTON!!!" hahahahah. As if that's a bad thing?

Haliburton? I thought that he drove the # 71 car on the NASCAR circuit? Man......I gotta get some heroin.