"Gavin, you've been practicing your eye contact..."

By now you’ve heard the news that former two-term U.S. president Bill Clinton is endorsing two-term San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom.

When you think about it, it makes perfect sense – they are both accomplished two-timers.

But this political romance is more about Clinton’s hate of Jerry Brown, than his affectation for the man-child mayor. Or so says conventional wisdom.

Sure, Newsom endorsed Hillary before she lost to my main man, B.  But even I don’t think that’s enough political skin to earn an ounce of flesh from WJC.

No, I’m sure Bill Clinton finally saw the opportunity to fuck over his 1992 nemesis. That’s what got the former president to unzip for this endorsement.

But it ain’t no thing.

Clinton will host maybe two-fundraising events for Newsom and maybe raise one or two million bucks for the Gavinator from Hollyweird. That’s not even enough scrillah for a fair game of catch up in the money race.

After the fundraisers, Clinton won’t waste political capital on the SS Gavin Newsom.

Time to go back to bartending?

Sources inside San Francisco City Hall and close to the Newsom campaign say it’s just a matter of time before Gavin Newsom quits his bid for the Democratic Party nomination in the 2010 California governor’s race.

Citing poor results in polls both statewide and locally and little fundraising traction, supporters and detractors alike say the Newsom campaign is a ship about to sink.

They point to over-the-summer stories of key long-time aides jumping ship and the fact that Gary South, his paid statewide campaign consultant, is failing to build team chemistry between remaining loyalists, as well as inspiring new people to join the team.

Additionally, sources close to Alex Tourk (the former best friend and campaign manager of Gavin Newsom) cited that renewed and damaging sex scandal allegations were privately presented to the Newsom campaign team.

Tourk allies, upset over Newsom’s attempt to rewrite history in recent interviews with national publications, told the Newsom for California campaign through intermediaries that more details of Newsom’s past would be leaked to national media.

Differences in strategy on how to continually message and spin Newsom’s sordid past was one major reason given as to why Eric Jaye, Gavin’s former long-time political advisor and consultant, left the struggling gubernatorial campaign.

As to the timing of his announcement to quit the governor’s race, sources close to Jaye say that Newsom will wait until the birth of his child and cite that major life event as the excuse for withdrawing from the race.

These anonymous sources say that there will be an “I am quitting the governor’s race so I can spend more time with my family” press release, sometime this fall around Halloween.

At least Gavin has a fall-back job — he can finally be mayor of San Francisco.

More likely, he’ll run for a less competitive statewide office or just go back to being a bartender at Plumpjack.

"Why do they say such things?"

SF Weekly — Seek out the political operatives who once worked closely with Newsom, and you’ll find that a number have soured on the mayor.

Ask them why, and you’ll be bombarded with his alleged character flaws. Among them: “thin-skinned,” “disloyal,” “friendless,” “joyless,” “Machiavellian,” “craven,” and “empty.”

One will tell you that Eric Jaye was “the best-paid babysitter in California.”

Several diagnose Newsom with an acute case of narcissism.

“He’s probably the worst mayor in modern history,” said Jack Davis, a strategist who has worked on the mayoral campaigns of Newsom, Willie Brown, and Frank Jordan. “I pity this poor state if lightning should strike and this cad becomes governor amidst the problems that the state has. He’d have a nervous breakdown. There’s no there there.”

Although there are also fervent supporters, dozens of interviews with City Hall staffers, strategists, and fundraisers yielded a surprising amount of disapproval.

Well-known consultants Jim Ross and Bob Brigham — who both worked on Newsom’s 2003 campaign — and 2007 campaign staffer David Latterman all have reservations.

“I’m concerned that his record and his temperament will not be fully vetted by the press,” Ross said.

Brigham was more direct. “I think Gavin would be a pretty awful governor,” he said, though he’s not too worried about it happening: “I don’t see any path to the nomination anymore.”

Daily Kos

In fact, as time goes on, he gets even more unpopular as a gubernatorial candidate among likely statewide voters.

As Swing State Project reports:

San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom doesn’t fare as well in head-to-heads — Whitman edges him out by 1, while he beats the other GOPers by 1 — and that’s reflected in his favorables. He’s the only one of the five gubernatorial candidates who’s in negative favorability territory….”

Wow.

In a room with Jerry Brown, Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner, and Tom Campbell, Gavin Newsom is hated the most.

Back in March, a CBS 5 by SurveyUSA showed that Gavin was viewed as “completely unqualified by 27 percent of voters.”

And in November 2008, a Field Poll revealed that Gavin “had the highest unfavorable rating of all the potential candidates — 41 percent.”

What does this say about Gavin’s future?

It means he’s only going to get more unpopular because the trends lines are pretty clear.

The more voters get to know Gavin, the less they like about him.

It’s time to start calling him Mr. Unfavorable.

Gavin’s long-time advisor and campaign consultant, Eric Jaye, has left the campaign over “a fundamental difference in how to run a campaign.”

Like many City Hall observers who are used to spin from political consultants, I thought to myself — “Holy shit, did Gavin sleep with Eric Jaye’s wife too?!?”

Gavin slept with his last campaign manager’s wife so I couldn’t help but wonder if Gavin has done it again — you know, creating an uncomfortable situation forcing a top campaign aide to resign.

"Was that an iceberg or loyalty we just hit?"

Eric Jaye’s departure is big news because, quite frankly, he deserves credit for taking an empty suit like Gavin and transforming him into a two-dimensional candidate.

That’s hard to do.

Essentially, Eric Jaye took a lemon and turned it into voter lemonade for low-information voters who don’t have the time or inclination to research Gavin Newsom’s record.

And then we hear that even more of Gavin’s long-time, loyal aides are abandoning ship.

It’s obvious to me that these aides don’t see much of a future by sticking around to watch Gavin implode in his race for Governor.

Seriously, if these aides saw a chance to ride Gavin’s speed boat to the Governor’s mansion, they would have stayed on. But apparently, all they see in Gavin is a broken-down cruiser that will eventually sink.

Wait and see. More “loyal” aides will soon be jumping off the SS Gavin Newsom.

Ahoy matey — abandon ship!

"He is like a Wizard of Oz creation."

Bay Guardian — There are two Gavin Newsoms: the mayor San Franciscans have gotten to know over the last six years, and the candidate running for governor.

The contrast is dramatic. The central persona being pushed by the Newsom campaign seems like pure fiction to most San Franciscans.

Going through the issues on Newsom’s campaign Web site, there are a startling number of claims that just don’t match his record.

(Newsom) is an empty, sad guy and his handlers have managed to create a persona that is fake and false.

Newsom has received repeated condemnations from the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force for withholding public documents and information, from internal e-mail to his daily schedule.  What’s he hiding?

The man-child mayor is counting on young, low-information voters and women to boost his chances for governor.

Newsom’s campaign for governor is a pitch perfect example of how you market and sell and empty suit.

The lights are off and nobody's home.

The Chronicle — Gavin Newsom has been increasingly absent from San Francisco, and his decision to enter the 2010 race for California governor means now he’s MIA for good.

Gavin Newsom has spent the equivalent of more than nine months traveling outside of California since he became mayor in 2004, in addition to his frequent in-state trips to Sacramento or Southern California.

His regular absences – particularly the recent ones that have coincided with ever-worsening news about the city’s budget deficit – have prompted some accusations that Newsom seems more devoted to his own agenda than he is to San Francisco.

Critics say it’s problematic because the city faces a $576 million budget deficit for the coming fiscal year, representing the worst fiscal crisis in San Francisco since the Great Depression.

Newsom’s critics, most of them speaking privately (for fear of retribution) say it’s a question of how much face time he gives the city.

Department heads have complained of feeling abandoned by the mayor at a time when they’re being asked to make deep budget cuts.

It seems he’s always somewhere else — and let’s be real — long-distance relationships never work especially with a mayor.  I guess he’s just not that into me.

"Please let me be an insider like him."

Gavin Newsom wants you to “Buck the System” in a funky fresh fundraising pitch made for kids.

The Chronicle is a family paper so they won’t change that “B” to an “F”.

Seriously though, who could make up the divine comedy that positions Gavin as an outsider who is bucking the system?

Gavin gets cash infusions from all the major Sacramento lobbyists and players, and he has stock and business holdings with the many monied interests that actually run things in the state capital and in D.C.  Why he’s so outside, he’s inside again.

I’m ready to buck a political system that has left our state nearly bankrupt.

Really?  How about San Francisco which actually is nearly BANKRUPT but still enjoying the gr-easy life in Gavin’s shiny head of delusions.

In this sad, pandering play to younger low-information voters, he’s the one who ends up the joke.

Gavin writes:

As Mayor of San Francisco, I know a little bit about how to get things done — even in tough times. I’m proud that San Francisco is the only city in America implementing universal health care. Working with a broad coalition of environmental groups, we are making our city a national leader in renewable energy and environmental stewardship. We’re using sound fiscal practices to protect our schools. And we are creating tens of thousands of new high-wage jobs with smart economic policies.

Gavin knows very little about getting things done in tough times. San Francisco is facing tough times right now with record projected budget deficits.

Yet Gavin is spending significant time getting things done to fulfill his gubernatorial aspirations in Fresno, San Jose, Santa Rose, and other parts of the state… instead of getting things done in San Francisco.

As for universal healthcare in San Francisco, according to the Bay Guardian:

Gavin Newsom never created it. First of all, Healthy San Francisco wouldn’t exist if then Sup. Tom Ammiano (now a member of the California Assembly) hadn’t spent years fighting for a universal health care plan paid for by employers. And while Ammiano was being savagely attacked over the idea by the business community, a key constituency of the mayor, Newsom sat on the sidelines until Ammiano lined up enough votes to approve the plan. At that point, Newsom introduced his own health plan, worked with Ammiano to merge the two, and has been taking credit for it around the country ever since. Ammiano credits labor, not Newsom, with doing the hard work of fighting business community opposition to Healthy San Francisco. “The mayor’s role was that we would keep him updated, but I don’t think he thought it was going to happen,” Ammiano told us. “There’s no doubt he came along for the ride.”

And remember that almost every leading local San Francisco environmental group, including The Sierra Club’s Bay Area chapter, didn’t endorse Gavin in his campaigns for Mayor because his leadership on environmntal issues is severely lacking.

So before you drink Gavin’s kool-aid, ask him how he’s bucking instead of fucking the system in San Francisco.

Marriage equality hero Dennis Herrera.

Whether you like it or not, Gavin Newsom’s campaign for marriage equality has been a controlled performance from the get-go.

Gavin took no position on marriage equality during his first run for Mayor in 2003, but his main opponent did.

When Newsom and his political consultants realized that many LGBT leaders and activists didn’t support his first Mayoral campaign, Gavin realized he needed to win them over with his budding political career.

Gavin bought the idea for same sex marriage from his paid political consultant Eric Jaye, the PG&E money maker.

So, the man-child mayor isn’t this story’s real hero — he’s just the pretty face and hair.

The real hero of marriage equality is this guy San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera and his legal team in the City Attorney’s office.

If you live outside the city you’ve probably never heard of Dennis the Civil Rights Menace:

The mayor may get all the credit, or blame, for pushing the marriage-equality issue before the Supreme Court, but the person who deserves it—San Francisco’s real Marrying Man—is Herrera.

Seems that the brain of Gavin W. Bush is actually in the office of his paid political consultant and the city attorney’s office.

A while back, Mayor Gavin had an affair with the wife of his best friend and campaign manager, Alex Tourk.  Guess he never heard the line “don’t dip your pen in the company inkwell” — “don’t fish off the company pier” is one of my favorites.

…deep down smart voters suspect this: You’re probably just a frat boy.

Schtupped your best friend’s wife while she worked for you in your office?

The man code be broken now.