I RAN INTO my neighbor, Sup. Tom Ammiano, while I was out walking my dog in the warm sunshine Monday morning. He was in an upbeat mood: "I sense an upset," he told me.

Ammiano was talking, of course, about Harry Britt's chances in the District 13 state assembly race, which was coming down to the wire. As of press time, the polls showed Britt within a point or two of Leno, which means that, statistically, the race is a dead heat. Both sides are scrambling to make inroads at the last minute, so you can expect a whole lot of anti-Britt hit mail over the next few days.

I've said it repeatedly over the past few months, but I'll say it once more, since this is my last chance before Election Day: several of the races on the primary ballot are crucial not only because of the clear differences between the candidates but also because of what they mean for San Francisco's political future.

Harry Britt would be a much better member of the state assembly than Mark Leno. He's better on the issues, more likely to push a visionary progressive agenda, far less likely to be pushed around by big-money interests. But he'd also be a much better political leader for San Francisco. (Whom do you think Leno would endorse for mayor – Gavin Newsom or Tom Ammiano?)

Jeff Adachi would be a much better public defender than Kim Burton – he has the experience as both a trial lawyer and an administrator. It would also be a huge step for San Francisco voters to reject the Brown-Burton machine's sleazy anointment of one of its own for the job.

Of course, the big money is pouring in. As Savannah Blackwell reports on page 16, the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Democratic Club slate card (promoting Leno and Burton) got an infusion of more than $50,000 at press time, from lobbyist Marcia Smolens, from the Kimiko Burton campaign, and from a statewide political action committee that's promoting state senator John Burton's Proposition 45 (the term-limit modification).

But San Francisco voters have been decidedly unwilling to bow to big-money campaigns of late. There's tremendous progressive momentum – and March 5 is a big test of how strong it is. If we can elected Britt and Adachi (and Dan Kelly) and pass Proposition D, and the reformers can take over the Democratic County Central Committee ... well, we may take back this city after all. Vote March 5.