Last night at the San Francisco premiere of the short movie The Butler's in Love (directed by David Arquette) Pop shimmied up to Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco and instrumental force in the brand new rights for all to marry in the state of California, and popped a couple of questions of our own.

Since we've been closely following the burst of new weddings, we had to ask the political trailblazer:

What’s next after the gay marriage victory?

The biggest most important thing is to defeat the initiative this November. It is absolutely critical we not allow this extraordinary moment in time where the Supreme Court has stepped up and adjudicated that the Constitution did not allow us to discriminate against same-sex couples for the public to then just a few months later write discrimination into the Constitution — so that’s the most important thing then, is to defeat it. And then to continue our efforts to expand rights and to expand opportunities for everyone regardless of their race, ethnicity, or their gender, or their sexual orientation and then to continue to build upon these efforts and to continue to address the issues of racial injustice and gender injustice that continue to this day — so there’s still a lot of work to be done.

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Newsom supported Hillary Clinton during her campaign — now that Obama's the candidate, we asked the big unity question. To find out what he had to say, read more.

As a former Hillary supporter, do you think the Democratic party can unite behind Barack Obama?

I was just with him two days ago in Miami — wildly enthusiastic. . . Look, at the end of the day we’re going to be united, at the end of the day there's no question in my mind that Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States and there’s no question that the overwhelming majority of Hilary Clinton supporters will enthusiastically support Barack Obama. There is so much at stake and one of the most important things at stake is the next US Supreme Court — and if people care about the issue of choice, particularly women that say, ‘Well I just loved Hillary and what she represented and I’m just not ready to support Barack’ – just think about the alternative and think about the constitutional consequences of having a Supreme Court with all but one or two judges appointed by conservative Republican presidents, and the impact that will have on a generation. I mean beyond any other issue that should be an issue that should drive those that are unsure — particularly women — to the polls enthusiastically in support of Barack Obama. And let's just dispense with the issue of the war and the economy, education and health care and the environment — all fundamental issues to our party — that we have a real champion, and someone we can be proud of to support and endorse and again, I was one of her national co-chairs, I traveled across the country for Hillary Clinton. I appreciate her, and I admire her, and I can say as a Clinton supporter and I am an enthusiastic Barack Obama supporter and if I can come on this easily and readily as I have, still maintaining my admiration for Hillary Clinton I think so many others certainly can and I hope and expect they will.

He's definitely young, but . . . do you think he could be a contender in the Democratic Veepstakes? Obama/Newsom '08? It could be a wildly welcome change — in scenery at the very least — and maybe what the White House needs? What do you think?

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