So I voted for the hippie. And here’s why you should too:

Gavin Newsom isn’t the right-wing nut he’s been painted as. But he’s the obvious choice. A pomaded, well-oiled machine slightly better than Willie Brown, but no less accountable. A man who views San Francisco the way a ladies’ man propositions an easy Friday night lay: a quickie on the way to the top or the next one, wherever that might be. This may be putting it crudely, but would you trust this man to babysit your kids? I rest my case.

But Gonzalez, while not as specific about solutions as his supporters would contend, is perhaps the only shot in a generation at a genuinely passionate and respectable politician in San Francisco. Someone who will try something open and different, someone who actually gives a damn about the problems that plague ths City and won’t turn a blind eye the way that Willie Brown did. Even if Gonzalez falls flat on his face, or should he win tonight, at least we can’t say that we didn’t try.

The results that may come from Gonzalez’s grand experiment, good or bad, are what I’m interested in, and why any San Franciscan should give him the risky vote. Homelessness is abysmal. Apartment rental rates are out of control. You have to clear $200K a year and have the credit of J. Paul Getty to buy a home here. And the local economy’s become as neglected as the pet chihuahua left home to die while the family’s driven four hundred miles to mourn the death of a close family relative. (Remix those metaphors, baby!) Who says that thinking outside of the box won’t help matters? And, for the record, Gonzalez is pro-business. He doesn’t plan on tampering dramatically with current business taxes. He just wants people to have a living wage, and to be able to afford to live here. He’s daring us to rethink our priorities. And the great thing is that if the experiment works, it could make a difference to how things are done nationwide. All Gonzalez asks is that we reconsider our values.

I hereby introduce an eleventh-hour campaign slogan that seems to have eluded Gonzalez’s supporters:

Put Your Balls on the Chopping Block and Vote Matt Gonzalez