With an announcement on the web, and a twitter Q&A session, the man I believe to be the most qualified and best prepared candidate to be the next governor of the state of California, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom today formally launched his bid to do just that. Watch his announcement: Gavin Newsom is a charismatic leader, a true defender of equality for all Californians and a mayor with the track record of getting results. Admittedly, as a gay man, I have always been partial towards Gavin because of his extraordinarily courageous decision in 2004 to allow gay couples to get married in the city and county of San Francisco. Although that decision was voided by the Supreme Court, the fight that he ignited took California to full equality, even though Proposition 8, pending the decision of the California Supreme Court threatens to relegate LGBT Californians to second class citizen status once more. But because of what we started with Gavin, either by a court decision or by another initiative, we will get our right to marry back. But Gavin Newsom is not simply the man who rose to the occasion and stood up for equal rights when it mattered and when few others did, he is also an extraordinary leader focused on results. Under his leadership, San Francisco has become the first city to guarantee health care to all its residents, the second greenest city in America (and the top recycling city in America), to guarantee a college education to every 6th grader in the city who will one day become eligible and willing, greatly reduced the number of homeless in the streets of San Francisco, and has caused me hurtburn on the only issue we likely disagree on: that of exempting the SFPD from enforcing federal immigration laws. Gavin Newsom has my wholehearted support for governor of this great state. I believe that he will make us all proud as Californians. In the coming days, I will run a series of commentary discussing in depth Gavin Newsom's achievements and stands on issues that are most important to Californians: health care, election reform, equal rights, environmental stewardship, homelessness, and law enforcement. I will tackle one issue a day. Please feel free to leave your comments. Note that my a Blogger account will be required for you to comment. Go Gavin!