Watching City Hall #240, (11-27-03) “Ask every person if they’ve heard the story … and tell it loud and clear, if he has not … that once there was a fleeting glimpse of glory … called ‘Camelot’.” (T.H. White – forecasting the Gonzalez campaign) Folks, there hasn’t been anything like this … not around here for the past 25 years I’ve ducked in and out of town picking up wives and stories and … this … and, that. … No, not in those 25 years, and maybe never. … I’ve been around the block a time or two and never seen anything like this. I sat until early in the morning in my office talking to people about what’s happening and no one has really been able to grasp the reality. Matt Gonzalez is going to be elected Mayor of San Francisco in a landslide vote on December 10th. I’ve been sitting in the middle of the cosmic energy, perpetual-motion machine called Gonzalez Headquarters for about 2 weeks now. I haven’t related 10% of the amazing things I’ve seen. There simply isn’t time. … It’s like watching the fall of a great empire as the Brown/Burton/Alioto machine crashes in pieces all around us. … As Charles Kalish says, this thing is bigger than us, Folks, what we have here is a memory. … Memories are priceless. Come down and become a part of that memory. … You won’t believe it. Paul Hayward built a night club a few feet from my door in the West Wing of Gonzo’s campaign headquarters. He decorated it with the finest art from the 300 responses to an e-mail asking for art for Matt, who is the number 1 patron of arts in this town. … David Pascal, who doubles as Campaign Expediter hung a score of Chinese lanterns and strings of Japanese origami birds on long strangs. Walter Wong, who rents Matt the headquarters and supports his candidacy, provides his prize little white baby grand piano where Judy ‘b’ (no one knows her name & she’s a high ranking member of the Gonzalez inner circle – talk about informal) … Judy ‘b’ sings jazz tunes impromptu and Barbara Early takes time from crunching numbers to do the act that earned her ‘Cabaret Singer of the Year’. … Keith Savage breaks bread with Vernon Jenkins and they tell me of the years of oppression under the boot of Willie Brown’s “leg breakers” who come out of the woodwork this time of the year during election season. … “They knock on the door of registered voters and tell them: ‘You vote for Willie Brown, or else!’” … Kim Knox rushes by and answers a phone call (remember, it is Thanksgiving day) … and takes a phone call from a physician from El Salvador who wants to convince Latino voters in the Bay View to vote for Matt. … I’m off to Sonoma in 45 minutes after a stop at my daughter’s to hug the woman who birthed her 31 years ago. A day of thanks. Jo is in town. Tandewe (my granddaughter) is approaching 10 months and the most gorgeous little kid in the world. … Matt is 7 points ahead in the latest independent poll. … I am working at the absolute capacity of all of my abilities 24 hours a day (I even sleep more efficiently) … it is the peak of my life and I am not alone. … I have to go see a couple of dogs. Butterball, Siena & Marley Butterball & Siena are 9 month old boxer-mix pups of my best friends, the Cohens (Daniel, Becky, Eric, Aimee & Stephen) who live in an unincorporated little strip of land between Rohnert Park and Penn Grove) … unless they’re trained to guard sheep, many dogs will kill them. So, the dogs have been on chain runs since 8am & it is approaching 3:30pm … I gotta finish this … This is about the only thing that could drag me away from this campaign for a couple of days. … Randy Knox is going to Cuba with Willie for a week or so. Marc Solomon is going to lie naked on a beach in Florida. … The Gonzalez campaign is going to party in the eye of the hurricane. That’s just like Matt’s crowd. … “Having destroyed the opposition in the countryside, the army lie upon hills before the vulnerable citadel and feasted upon great trays of delicacies and drank fine wines.” Quickies Willie Brown is yelling “racist!” … … Too many times, Uncle Willie. Too many times for all of your ilk. Love is carrying the day. Reason is atop. Demagoguery will not determine this election. It will be determined by passion and altruism. Those are real San Francisco traits. … I’m gonna go see a couple of dogs & some chickens and a cat & a hot tub and a pool and Eileen Left, who has been working at the Department of Elections for the past 2 weeks is joining me, so we’ll write from Daniel’s deck tomorrow. Happy thanksgiving to all (You too, Willie & Gavin) Bottoms up!: