John Dennis - 2010

Political pundits are probably wondering why John Dennis is even bothering to challenge Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco's 8th District; let alone even admitting that he is a Republican. Wonder no more. He actually has a chance, and a pretty good one to actually capture the seat. San Francisco is a politically dynamic place, where people on either end of the political spectrum toss their hats into a discussion regardless of the actual political views of the person to whom they are talking, and both sides feel just as strongly about the correctness of their views. The one thing, though, that everybody agrees upon is that this is a free country and San Franciscans love their freedom.

They love their freedom to express themselves and act or dress in ways that would be socially unacceptable elsewhere. They love the freedom to spontaneously block a city street in a densely populated part of town to protest something or express satisfaction of something. And, above all, they love their freedom to live their lives as they see fit, whether its with a spouse of the same gender or under a freeway overpass. With this love of personal freedoms, it is no wonder that many are embracing the campaign of someone who is challenging the status quo of an incumbent percieved to be trampling upon other people's freedom.

What outsiders see is something entirely different. Outsiders see a city full of people who are to the left of even organizations like MoveOn.org. A lot of this perception is media driven. The reality is, though, that San Francisco's demographics has changed quite a bit in the last decade or so, certainly since the mid-1980s. Politicos of larger cities do not change that quickly and San Francisco is no exception. What outsiders do not see are the incremental changes, who is moving out and who is migrating in. San Francisco was a major beneficiary of the in-migration of younger, entrepreneurs who fueled the dotcom boom. Many of these people have a somewhat libertarian bent to their political biases and for a variety of reasons settled in the city itself.

The media also sees libertarians as "Republicans", even though many are socially liberal. It is true that many do run under the Republican banner. But many can easily run under a moderate Democrat banner as well, as Democrats tend more to respect people's differences, even if they want to tell people how to live their lives. The ideal Republican who can win is one who runs on a platform of respect for liberty, respect for people's love of freedom. The unsuccessful one is a Republican who insists on using socially divisive issues like abortions or gay marriage as a way to differentiate themselves from their opponent. Such arguments do not fly in San Francisco as people there generally respect eachother's differences and many thrive on it.

John Dennis is running a smart campaign. His goal is not to convert San Francisco into a bastion of conservatism. The campaigns' goal is really to tell people how the Democrats are stomping upon their freedoms and doing so with legislative games that stymie healthy debate. As long as he sticks to the freedom message and stays away from socially hot button issues, his chances of actually winning improve substantially. It is too early to predict whether the freedom message will resonate with some of the entrenched interests, but it probably will resonate with the newer residents who grew up elsewhere.