SF mayor says "Yes on 8" ad starting to bother him

While he said initially that he wasn't overly concerned, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday said his involuntary role in leading "Yes on 8" ad is starting to get under his skin a bit.

The ad, which takes video clips of Newsom exhorting the California Supreme Court's May 15 decision to legalize same-sex marriage out of context, is wallpapering the TV air waves - especially down in Southern California where the mayor was over the weekend.

"I watch that commercial and I just cringe. Candidly, I'm embarrassed by it," Newsom told the San Francisco Chronicle Wednesday evening. "And it's horrible because 30 million people have seen it."

Newsom, however, told the paper that he doesn't regret his ‘Howard Dean' moment.

"It's who I am," the mayor said. "I'm going to be passionate, and the minute I'm not passionate get rid of me because I'm a dime a dozen."

Prop. 8, if approved by the voters Nov. 4, would permanently change the California Constitution to recognize the institution of marriage as being only between a man and woman.