Exhibiting the streak of unpredictability that has distinguished his career, San Francisco Mayor and Democratic candidate for Governor Gavin Newsom announced on April 1st that he had purchased a new yellow Hummer. Newsom noted: “it’s time for politicians to send a message about buying American, and the Hummer is made right here in the good old US of A.” While environmentalists expressed shock that a Mayor who holds weekly media events touting the electric car would buy the vehicle most identified with gasoline excess, political observers see the move as a stroke of genius from Newsom.

After he opened City Hall to gay marriages in 2004, we learned that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is always open to the unexpected. But even long-time Newsom watchers were taken aback to see the Mayor riding around town in a new, 2009 bright yellow Hummer.

But just as gay marriage turned out to be a big political gain for Newsom, some see the same result coming from his purchase of a car that looks like a tank and gets only 8 miles per gallon.

As one insider put it, “Every politician today is touting their support for green cars, but now Newsom is the only one promoting the Hummer. If the car is so unpopular, why did Arnold Schwarzenegger prominently drive a Hummer when he first ran for Governor?”

Others see the wily hand of Newsom campaign chief Eric Jaye behind the move: “Eric has been trying to figure out how Gavin can connect outside the state’s gourmet ghettos; the Hummer gives him openings in the vote-rich Inland Empire, in Sacramento County, and in parts of Los Angeles and Orange Counties.”

The Hummer will also make it easier for Newsom to bring a large group volunteers along with him on campaign stops. This would be impossible in a Prius.

Jerry Brown, who gained fame for driving a Plymouth as Governor rather than a limousine, had no comment at press time on gubernatorial rival Newsom’s action.