Well, the salvo coming from the Lee campaign trying to smear Dennis Herrera for not being a strong enough supporter of same-sex marraige shows at least one thing: The race is closer than the polls are reporting.Read more »

The San Francisco Chronicle finally -- finally -- put the story about voter fraud by Ed Lee's supporters on the front page Oct. 25, and it was on the top of sfgate for a few hours. But by 11:30 a.m., the story was off the front page of the paper's website, buried where it's impossible to find without searching -- and replaced by a big story about this bizarre Ed Lee rap video featuring Hammer, will.i.am and Brian Wilson. Read more »

The Leland Yee campaign has produced a nice little video primer on the Ed Lee vote scandal. It's short, to the point, and gives you a sense of what has been going on with volunteers who are supposedly independent from the official Lee campaign. Check it out after the jump. Read more »

Somehow, you never see headlines like this in the Chron:

Former SF Mayor Newsom endorses hand-picked incumbent Ed Lee amid ballot tampering charges

Pretty much says it all.

I realize that Mayor Ed Lee has denounced what appears to be clear voter fraud, but he has a problem and it's not going to go away. Lee has allowed himself to be surrounded by the same sort of sleaze artists who circled around the administration of Willie Brown, doing the same sorts of things. And simply calling this crew and its actions "moronic" isn't going to cut it.Read more »

There are two words no candidate wants to hear a month before Election Day:

"Criminal investigation."

I give District Attorney George Gascon credit -- I didn't think he'd ever really go after municipal corruption, but he's showing at least a bit of political spine here, launching an investigation into the dubious campaign contributions of Ed Lee. Lee's campaign immediately said there would be full cooperation:Read more »

I finally got a copy of The Ed Lee Story -- a 132-page paperback hagiography written by campaign flak Enrique Pearce -- and it's way, way over the top. I shouldn't even compare it to the lives of the saints -- I read that stuff in Catholic School, and none of it was a sappy, drippy and utterly lacking in perspective as this. The Ed Lee Story reads like what it is -- a giant, extended campaign flier, produced by a supposedly independent group backing Lee for mayor.Read more »