But the temporary place is furnished, Newsom offers, and besides, he's never home.
Last Wednesday is a case in point. Newsom began the day at a breakfast with friends, then dashed off to address 1,500 high school girls convened for at a health conference.
He notes with delight that he was the only man in the room, then rattles off a series of high-profile appointments he has made since taking office: police chief, fire chief, chief medical examiner. All women. The audience roars.
Newsom then climbs into a city-issued Lincoln Town Car with a bodyguard and -- blue and orange lights flashing -- heads for Jefferson Elementary School. The visit is less confrontational than some others Newsom has paid around town. Jefferson Principal Judi Rosen had been alerted the night before; many of Newsom's other visits were unannounced and involved programs under his direct purview.
At an outing with homeless outreach workers, he had pointed to men he had seen on the streets for years and demanded to know what was being done for them.
At the school, Newsom ditches his jacket in the car. Two hours later he is still there, cutting a paper square with the help of a fifth-grade girl for a math exercise. He quizzes second-graders on the birds they expect to encounter on a field trip, and peruses a roomful of inventions He asks teachers for specifics on how the city can be most helpful to them.
And he graciously accepts a bag of greasy doughnut holes from second-grader Natalie Morace, who without knowing the mayor would visit, had chosen Newsom as the subject of her hero essay. In a tiny voice, the girl compliments his "courage" for allowing gay people to marry, because "when you love someone, you cannot help it."
Later Newsom high-tails it to Bayview Hunter's Point, an area plagued by unsolved murders. He had paid a surprise visit to a housing project there once before and was appalled. A burned-out dumpster blocked part of an intersection, where it had sat for years. The street was full of potholes. The backboards at the basketball courts were scarred by bullet holes.
Newsom ordered it cleaned up. By the time he arrives on this afternoon -- to announce rewards for information on several unsolved murders -- crews have patched potholes and repaired sidewalks. The courts have been resurfaced with private donations. Media people encircle Newsom and his police chief as he announces the rewards. He talks up improvements to the witness protection program and a new crime mapping system.
But winning trust here will not be easy. Annette Martin, 40, complains that she's seen it all before. Unless Newsom helps bring jobs to residents, she says, they'll keep dealing drugs and committing crimes.
The mayor listens but ultimately draws a line. "Well, you've got to do your part, too," he tells her. "We can't just do it all for you."
After reviewing the progress of construction, he returns to City Hall for a series of private meetings: a Westside community leader, a Habitat for Humanity official, a city job prospect.
By evening, Newsom is breezing through an affordable housing conference and delivering a pep talk at an election fundraiser for a school board member he had appointed.
The day ends with a routine staff meeting -- which runs late into the night. No one thought to bring food, so they make do with candy bars and cookies.
Squeezed into his schedule earlier, however, was a telling visit from Simon Rosenberg, president and founder of the New Democrat Network. The organization has cultivated and supported dozens of Clinton-style Democrats running for Congress as well as positions in local and state government.
Newsom has been on Rosenberg's radar since last fall, when the group endorsed him and he served as keynote speaker for their conference. Some say Newsom's move on gay marriages -- while popular in San Francisco -- was too controversial for a national audience, particularly in an election year.
But Rosenberg begs to differ.
"It's amazing how many people have said to me, 'Isn't that the guy you told us to help? We didn't know anything about him then, but he's an amazing guy,' " Rosenberg said. "I think people really have very big expectations for him in the long term. He is arguably the single most-promising Democrat under 40 in the country."
Rosenberg stopped by to see how the mayor was handling his newfound fame, and to remind him that he's got some heavyweight backing.
"I told him my commitment to help him is no less than it was before," Rosenberg said. "We really want to help him become a true national leader for the party. Whatever 'it' is, I think Gavin's got it."
