Regis Philbin
Jul 17th, 2007, 07:37 PM
Sleep with your best friend's wife and enter rehab for booze addiction and you can be San Francisco Mayor too...
http://fe8.news.sp1.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20070713/pl_bloomberg/agv3qrvzlqbk
San Francisco Mayor Keeps Popularity Amid Sex, Alcohol Scandals
Adam Satariano
Fri Jul 13, 2:58 AM ET
July 13 (Bloomberg) -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is running for re-election virtually unopposed, more popular than ever, after admitting to having an affair with a top aide's wife and entering an alcohol-treatment program.
Newsom, whose approval ratings are running close to 80 percent, said he expects a credible candidate to emerge eventually. So far, challengers include a street-performing clown, a homeless man, an advocate for nudism, and a candidate who pledges to wear a camera so voters can monitor his performance in office.
``We haven't seen anything like this in a very long time,'' said David Binder, a pollster who has tracked San Francisco politics since the early 1980s. It's becoming one of the oddest elections in 25 years in a city known for making incumbent mayors endure bruising campaigns, he said.
In 1983, Dianne Feinstein, now a U.S. senator, fought off a recall campaign as mayor. Her successors, Frank Jordan and Art Agnos, were defeated after just one term. In 1999, Democrat Willie Brown used a rare endorsement from Republicans to win a second term.
Newsom, a 39-year-old Democrat, squeaked by in the 2003 election. Backed by Feinstein and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he trailed a Green Party opponent Election Day and was declared the winner after absentee ballots were counted.
Newsom bolstered his image in the city 3 1/2 years ago by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. He's a restaurant owner who calls himself a pro-business Democrat who's ``extraordinarily progressive on social issues.''
http://fe8.news.sp1.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20070713/pl_bloomberg/agv3qrvzlqbk
San Francisco Mayor Keeps Popularity Amid Sex, Alcohol Scandals
Adam Satariano
Fri Jul 13, 2:58 AM ET
July 13 (Bloomberg) -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is running for re-election virtually unopposed, more popular than ever, after admitting to having an affair with a top aide's wife and entering an alcohol-treatment program.
Newsom, whose approval ratings are running close to 80 percent, said he expects a credible candidate to emerge eventually. So far, challengers include a street-performing clown, a homeless man, an advocate for nudism, and a candidate who pledges to wear a camera so voters can monitor his performance in office.
``We haven't seen anything like this in a very long time,'' said David Binder, a pollster who has tracked San Francisco politics since the early 1980s. It's becoming one of the oddest elections in 25 years in a city known for making incumbent mayors endure bruising campaigns, he said.
In 1983, Dianne Feinstein, now a U.S. senator, fought off a recall campaign as mayor. Her successors, Frank Jordan and Art Agnos, were defeated after just one term. In 1999, Democrat Willie Brown used a rare endorsement from Republicans to win a second term.
Newsom, a 39-year-old Democrat, squeaked by in the 2003 election. Backed by Feinstein and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he trailed a Green Party opponent Election Day and was declared the winner after absentee ballots were counted.
Newsom bolstered his image in the city 3 1/2 years ago by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. He's a restaurant owner who calls himself a pro-business Democrat who's ``extraordinarily progressive on social issues.''