Urgent Appeal from Matt Gonzalez for Mayor campaign: we can win!

[Armand Diego <causebellum@xxxxxxxxx>]

****** Please forward, copy, post widely *****

AN URGENT APPEAL FROM THE CAMPAIGN OF MATT GONZALEZ
FOR MAYOR

Dear friends:

The Left Party and Frontlines newspapers, endorsers of
Matt Gonzalez for Mayor are issuing a call for
socialists and Greens everywhere to donate, volunteer
and support the campaign.

A victory of Matt Gonzalez will send tremors
throughout the United States and will show that the
bipartisan political regime can be defeated.

Matt is running on a radical platform of democratic
and Civil Rights, fair taxation, immigrant rights,
protection of the environment and opposition to the
rule of big businesses.

He is the author of a proposition on the ballot
raising the minimum wage; co-sponsor of a proposition
to curb police abuse and corruption and is in favor of
a broad and united movement of the left against the
parties of the ruling class.

He opposes the war and occupation of Iraq and speaks
openly and frequently against the Patriot Act and for
the right to vote for non-citizens.

More importantly, he is for the end of the rule of the
Democratic Party over social, political and community
movements and for their independence of the two party
system.

If you would like to read about why socialists are
supporting Matt Gonzalez, please visit our web page at
http://www.sf-frontlines.com

Please, read below the special message from the Matt
Gonzalez for Mayor Campaign where they explain how you
can do something to help.

Comradely,

Carlos Petroni
Frontlines Newspaper editor
Left Party
-----
HOW CAN YOU HELP MATT WIN?

As you may already be aware, Matt Gonzalez, a former
public defender, current President of the San
Francisco Board of Supervisors, and one of the leading
elected Greens in the country, is running for Mayor of
San Francisco.  The election is this Tuesday, November
4th, and we need your help.

New polls out today (Wednesday, Oct 29) show that Matt
has climbed into a slim lead for second place and a
coveted spot in the upcoming runoff election, which
will feature the top two finishers from the November
4th contest (see the Chronicle story below).  This is
HUGE.

Even better, our own polling from a few weeks back
showed that, should he make it into the runoff, Matt's
poll numbers starting out are statistically tied with
those of the leading candidate (Gavin Newsom, a
neo-conservative anti-homeless candidate backed by
downtown business interests), with each candidate
receiving 41-42% support.  In other words, Matt has a
very strong chance to become the first Green mayor of
a major international city - not just in the U.S., but
in the world!

Obviously, most of you who are receiving this message
live far away from San Francisco, but, because this is
an off-year, most parts of California don't have local
elections, meaning that many of you may be free to
volunteer for a day, or a weekend, or can contribute
to our campaign in San Francisco on behalf of Greens
and like-minded activists everywhere.

>>Here is how you can help:

Between now and election day, we need volunteers at
Matt's Mission District campaign office (211 13th
Street, SE corner of Mission/Duboce Streets,
#415-734-9340) to help us distribute literature and
help with visibility.  We are going door-to-door and
hitting commuters mornings and evenings at busy
transit stops.  You can come by any time and we will
set you up with literature and an assignment.

We also have a strong phone bank campaign running with
about 30 lines between our two offices where we are
recruiting more volunteers and calling undecided
voters.  The best time to come in and make calls is
between 6-9 PM, but anytime you can give is great.

Finally, we are hoping to recruit a few hundred
volunteers to help with Election Day fliering and
visibility outside of busy polling places.  We need
folks for both a morning shift (7-10AM) and afternoon
shift (4-8PM).  If you can help, please call Kim at
(415) 734-9340.

>>In a nutshell, if you can make it to SF anytime
between now and
>>Tuesday, please come and bring as many friends with
you as you can.
>>We could really use your help.

If you can't come, but would like to make a financial
contribution, you can donate online at
www.mattgonzalez.com or mail a check payable to "Matt
Gonzalez for Mayor" to 168 Seville Street, San
Francisco, CA 94112 and include your address,
occupation and employer.

Please note that we are up against a strong field of
Democrats, many of whom have millions of dollars that
they are spending to get their message out.  Matt has
only his loyal supporters and idealists to help him
win...but so far it seems to be working.  Please join
us in making the most of this opportunity to shake up
politics on the West Coast.

Also, if we are successful in getting Matt into the
runoff, there will be an immediate, 5-week campaign
for mayor leading up to a December 9th election and we
will be pulling out all of the stops to help Matt win.
 Please keep your schedules open for those weekends,
and consider organizing a caravan from your area to
San Francisco on behalf of progressive politics
everywhere.

For more information on Matt Gonzalez and news about
the mayoral race, check out

www.sfgreenparty.org and www.mattgonzalez.com

Thanks in advance for all of your support and
well-wishes.

Matt Spencer
Volunteer Coordinator
Matt Gonzalez for Mayor
(415) 734-9340

++++++++++++

IN S.F. IT'S A RACE TO BE SECOND - GONZALEZ, LEAL,
ALIOTO VIE TO FACE NEWSOM By Julian Guthrie, John
Wildermuth - Chronicle Political Writers -Wednesday,
October 29, 2003

With a week to go before San Francisco votes for
mayor, the question now is who is picking up the most
steam.

If the polls tell the story, Supervisor Matt Gonzalez
is on the move, gaining ground in surveys taken only
days apart. But city Treasurer Susan Leal has grabbed
some key endorsements, attorney Angela Alioto is
oozing confidence, and Supervisor Gavin Newsom has
front-runner status and an overflowing chest of
campaign cash.

Supervisor Tom Ammiano, on the other hand, is out of
money and running short of time, while former Police
Chief Tony Ribera is facing the nearly inevitable fate
of a Republican candidate in a Democratic town.

Even Newsom's most rabid backers don't expect him to
grab the more than 50 percent he needs to dodge a Dec.
9 runoff election. That leaves the other members of
the mayoral pack scrambling to build the buzz that
could vault them into that head-to-head showdown.

"When it comes to political momentum, you can see it,
but more often you can feel it,'' said Kevin Spillane,
a veteran California political consultant. "It's an
energy and excitement that a candidate is receiving
from both voters and opinion leaders.''

It also helps when it comes late in the campaign, he
added.

"A significant number of voters make up their minds
late, often in that last weekend,'' Spillane said.
"That's why you want to be seeing momentum at the end,
not four weeks before the election.''

An Oct. 21 survey of 400 likely voters, conducted by
San Francisco pollster David Binder for local
businesses, showed Newsom with 36 percent of the vote,
followed by Gonzalez at 15 percent, Alioto at 13
percent, Ammiano at 10 percent and Leal at 7 percent.

That's a change from a poll taken by Binder a few days
earlier, which put Newsom at 37 percent, Ammiano at 16
percent, Gonzalez at 11 percent and Alioto at 10
percent.

Gonzalez appears to have "become fashionable among a
certain segment of the electorate,'' notably younger
voters, said Mark Mosher, a political consultant whose
firm helped write the poll.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/10/29/MNGCK2LF7A1.DTL



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