He's been called liberal, Kennedy-esque, Mayor McDreamy (ok, I made that last one up). He's San Francisco's Gavin Newsom.
Newsom was elected in 2003 and took office in January 2004. Since then, he's pledged to end homelessness and bring municipal wireless internet to San Fran (sound familiar?). He also made it possible for same sex couples to marry, gotten divorced from his celebrity wife, and started dating CSI:Miami star Sofia Milos - all actions we're not likely to see from the next mayor of Philadelphia.
Here's another thing you might not see one of our likely candidates do:
Thomas Wilson rounded a table, arms full of free shoes and pants and books, and then stopped short, shock filling his face. There, sitting on a small stool while hordes of people walked obliviously by him, was San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom -- massaging and washing a homeless woman's feet.
"Doesn't that guy get tired of this stuff?" Wilson said, whistling through his teeth. "I mean, I know he wants to help us homeless people -- but kee-rist, washing someone's feet? You've got to be kidding."
No, Newsom later said with a laugh, he doesn't get tired washing the feet of homeless people, which he has done so many times now at his bimonthly Project Homeless Connect gatherings that hardly anybody really notices it any more.
Click here for the whole story.
In a time when we've become so cynical that we'd likely see an action like this as a meticulously engineered photo opportunity done only for political gain, it would still be nice to see this kind of leadership by example and humility from our next mayor.