Last week, Matt Gonzales lost the mayoral race in San Francisco. But in a very real sense, he won. He won more Democratic votes than his Democratic incumbent. It was Republican votes that made the difference for Newsome. Gonzales also proved that it is possible for a member of a smaller party, like the Greens, to win a major election.
The Democratic Party machine in San Francisco had to put call in all of it's support and turned the supposedly non-partisan mayoral runoff into a very partisan campaign with Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Jesse Jackson and Nancy Pelosi all making very public appearances. According to Pelosi, "..the fight in this country is between the Democrats and the Republicans. In order for the Democrats to prevail we have to be strong. Having the mayor of San Francisco be a Democrat is important to us." And still they did not carry their own party vote.
There is a lesson for all of us. Don't let anyone say that voting for a candidate other than the a Republican or a Democrat is wasting your vote. Don't let anyone say that the Greens are just spoilers. As Gonzales showed us, Greens are in elections to win. Next time, they just might.