"Anybody but Daly" in District 6?

In BeyondChron, Casey Mills provides a tepid endorsement of Supervisor Daly's expected bid for re-election this year:

District 6's Chris Daly...will also face re-election...Daly's ability to irk certain moneyed interests may cause a self-financed challenger to jump in and create some drama, but the continued strong support of Tenderloin, South of Market and North Mission residents of Daly and his willingness to fight for their needs leaves little chance that he will lose in November. ("Political Races of 2006: A Preview," Jan. 3, 2006)

Well, maybe. Recall that Daly barely avoided a run-off in 2002 with 51.21% of the vote. Since then he has allowed 19 marijuana clubs to open up in District 6. 

And there's his shocking endorsement of the Rincon Hill developments that include highrise buildings and more than 3000 luxury condos in his district, not to mention his volatile public behavior. Daly's opponents can plausibly launch an "Anybody But Daly" campaign in District 6 with a good chance of success.

 

In a recent message to the PROSF bulletin board, James Hooker lavishes praise on Supervisor Bevan Dufty:

The real force that is developing is with Bevan Duffy who has developed a reputation for "getting the job done" among minorities and progressive people alike (they sometimes have different agendas) He's communicative and has no personal agenda but to successfully serve the community. Although he is a Willie Brown mentor[sic] like Gavin he still commands an excellent assessment of the politics of SF and can be an outstanding leader for the progressive left.

Dufty's biggest failure is being completely MIA on the UC proposal to turn the old Extension site on lower Haight St. into a huge housing development of 400-500 units, even though it turns out that all of the property is actually in his District 8. 

So far Dufty has stood silently by as Supervisor Mirkarimi does all the heavy political lifting on the issue. 400-500 new housing units means at least 1000 more people and a lot more traffic in a densely populated area struggling to digest the appalling new Octavia Blvd. that now carries all the freeway traffic that used to travel over Hayes Valley on the Central Freeway. 

Dufty's future political opponents will rightly ask, "Where has Dufty been on the UC issue?" He also waffled for months on the proposal to put a Trader Joes on upper Market St. before coming out in opposition to that potentially traffic-snarling idea.