Gavin Newsom

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.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom labeled the claims in the Yes on 8 campaign's first TV ad released Monday as "absurd" and added that the commercial -- which uses phrases from one of his own speeches against him -- was merely an attempt to "distract" voters from the harm the measure would cause if passed in November.

In a statement provided to PolitckerCA.com late Monday, Newsom said:

Backers of the No on 8 campaign wasted little time Monday roundly condemning Yes on 8's first anti-gay marriage TV ad of the campaign.

Proponents of Prop. 8, the November ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage in California, rolled out their first TV ad of the campaign Monday and used gay marriage proponent Gavin Newsom's own words against him.

WASHINGTON - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom appeared before the National Press Club Tuesday to tout the growing success of his city's universal health care program.

Newsom announced that the city has enrolled 30,000 residents into the unusual program, dubbed Healthy San Francisco.

OAKLAND - Several hundred East Bay Democrats gathered Saturday to hear Assembly Speaker Karen Bass encourage them to get out the vote for both Sen. Barack Obama on the national stage but also just as critically for Democratic candidates on the state and local level.

Bass headlined the 38th Alameda County Democratic Party Unity Dinner at the Oakland Airport Hilton Hotel. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer served as master of ceremonies for the annual dinner.

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced his opening of a 2010 exploratory bid for governor Monday, immediately putting him in the front tier of Republicans to replace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Poizner, rumored to be interested in running for the job for months, said in a campaign announcement that his campaign would focus on fostering innovation in government and business.

Potential gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman got a big soapbox this week at the RNC, while U.S. Sen. Feinstein's talk of her own potential run is not welcome news to Mayor Gavin Newsom, so they're among this week's Winners & Losers.| CLICK HERE