from their website today:
DLC | New Dem Daily | December 11, 2003
Good News From Two Cities
There's good political news for New Democrats this week from two big cities. In San Francisco on Tuesday, long-time DLC friend and city supervisor Gavin Newsom beat back a tough runoff challenge from board of supervisors president and Green Party member Matt Gonzalez to become Mayor. And over the weekend, former Clinton administration official Bill White won a landslide victory over Republican Orlando Sanchez in another mayoral runoff in Houston.
In San Francisco, Gonzalez' campaign generated plenty of buzz as a test of whether the city would redeem its reputation as the most left-tilting major municipality in the country. But his efforts to paint his opponent as a status quo candidate beholden to outgoing Mayor Willie Brown could not overcome Newsom's clear-cut agenda for reform, exemplified in 21 separate issue papers reflecting some of the best ideas for governing cities from around the country. In fact, Newsom has made it clear his first priority will be to implement a "CitiStat" system holding municipal agencies accountable for real-life results in a broad variety of service delivery areas, adopting an innovation pioneered by Baltimore's New Democratic Mayor Martin O'Malley.
In Houston, White trounced an opponent who represented the Texas Republican dream of a new political alliance uniting conservative and Hispanic voters. White ran what Houston Chronicle political reporter John Williams called a "near-perfect campaign," assembling "the broadest coalition of voters since former Mayor Kathy Whitmire." The way he campaigned well positions Bill White to govern Houston as an effective municipal leader in the New Democrat tradition.
Vanquishing opponents from the left and the right in very different places, Newsom and White both showed that New Democrats continue to represent the "problem-solving wing of the Democratic Party," determined to bend government to pursue progressive policies through innovative means.
