-Caveat Lector- San Francisco Runoff Shocks Experts By MICHAEL WARREN .c The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The flamboyant, wisecracking Mayor Willie Brown may have met his match in the charisma contest in Tom Ammiano, an openly gay city supervisor who moonlights as a comedian and uses humor to great strategic effect. Ammiano launched a write-in campaign for mayor just 20 days before Tuesday's election, and shocked the experts by getting enough votes to force Brown - one of California's most powerful politicians - into a runoff Dec. 14. ``It's nothing short of amazing,'' said Rich DeLeon, chairman of political science at San Francisco State University. ``It's thrilled me, it's inspired me. It tells me not all politics is political science, it's political art. If someone can mobilize people at the grassroots level, all bets are off.'' If Ammiano can beat Brown, he will become the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city. The next six weeks promise a contest that will force people in this most liberal city to choose sides like never before. Ammiano, 58, has long been an openly gay, liberal activist, first on the school board and then in City Hall. But Brown, 65, has many IOUs he can call in from gay and liberal activists he fought for as a political powerbroker in Sacramento, where he was the longest-serving speaker of California's Assembly before becoming mayor four years ago. ``Willie Brown is formidable. He's extremely smart, he has the entire Democratic party establishment on his side, and he's not been a bad mayor,'' DeLeon said. With 13 challengers on the ballot Tuesday, Brown failed to get the majority needed to win re-election outright. When the final votes were tallied, Ammiano had 25 percent of the vote to Brown's 39 percent. Ammiano spent only $20,000 on network of volunteers - less than 50 cents a vote. Brown spent $2.3 million - about $32 a vote. In a city where many voters consider political moderation to be a cop-out, Brown has been on the defensive. Each time he talks about using his influence to shape huge projects, such as a new baseball stadium and a new university campus, others see him as caring more about big business than neighborhoods. Lately he has been portrayed as ``King Willie,'' dining with lobbyists at fine restaurants while trying to steer clear of an FBI corruption probe into city government. Ammiano strikes a chord with voters who care less about courting new businesses than campaign reform and a ban on ATM fees, issues Ammiano has promoted. He grew up in Newark, N.J., attended Catholic schools and spent two years in Vietnam during the War, but not with the Army. He volunteered to teach English to Vietnamese children, then began teaching special education classes in San Francisco. The San Francisco Chronicle's political columnists dubbed him ``Jesse Ventura in heels,'' but he has been a serious political force since 1975, when he lobbied the school board to adopt sex discrimination protections so teachers couldn't be fired for being gay. ``That took care of me being out of the closet,'' Ammiano said Friday. Doing occasional standup routines taught him ``survival skills'' - a thick skin and a quick wit, he said. It also showed him the value of humor - like when the school board included transgender people in the nondiscrimination clause. ``Finally in San Francisco, a man won't get a pink slip for wearing a pink slip,'' he joked. He is quick with a comeback, but usually pokes fun at himself rather than others. When he joined with environmentalists this summer to oppose a plan to expand diesel ferry service on San Francisco Bay, he disarmed reporters by playing off a common slur for homosexuals: ``I bet you never thought I'd come out against ferries,'' he said. The joking aside, both campaigns say Ammiano's sexuality will not be an issue in the runoff. Brown even has a billboard that reads: ``Re-elect the most pro-gay mayor in America.'' DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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