I don't know much about San Francisco's new mayor Gavin Newsom. My more liberal friends still in the Bay Area didn't like him, while Salon.com's lefty Joan Walsh seemed pretty contemptuous of his rival. But from this distance it seems possible that he might be a political and financial genius. He's just reshaped his base. It can't possibly actually cost the city $82 to file a marriage license. Some high percentage of that $82,000 gross take has got to be filling San Francisco's badly starved coffers. There are a lot of gay people in California who are angry about the discriminatory backlash they suddenly face, a lot of committed families wanting to make a statement. I'm hoping this can make the city at least a quarter of a million before it gets stopped. Make a political statement and raise some money for the other The City? Sounds good to me.