when it came down to it, bevan dufty said, after talking to the mayor, newsom made an argument as to why edwin lee should have the job. >> supervisor daly, having witnessed several progressives vote for a moderate saw the progress of dreams away. >> we ostensibly had a majority on the board of supervisors. we had an opportunity and we made the biggest fumble in san francisco political history. >> once it became clear that ed lee had the votes to win, nobody wanted to pull the trigger. so they stopped the meeting -- at midnight -- and decided to have another meeting that friday. at the end of the day, so many people had been put up for consideration, and here is the one person that had not and he ends up being the person who the board ends up with. that is a huge shock. >> when the board finally made their appointment, i was joyful because i thought it would be much more difficult. >> supervisors avalos and, thus ask that the meeting be recessed until friday to allow for a meeting with ed lee. >> i have not had a chance to talk to ed lee, any more than him, to my office and telling me

you have people like bevan dufty, david chiu, even john avalon's common john campos, and ross mirkarimi, all had indicated an interest. so you have people on the board who want to run for mayor. do they go for the caretaker mayor, or do they put those interests aside and best themselves with a politician that has a good chance of being elected? with that dilemma in front of them, we saw what happened. they could not put their egos aside. they generally would with the caretaker mayor. that person would pose no threat of running against them. >> when the board met next week on november 23, the clerk of the board proposed a process for nomination for mayor, which the board debated, amended, and eventually passed. >> a board member read the nominated may not produce pig in the discussion or vote on the competitor nominees. if the nominee of a board member nominee has been withdrawn, the board member may no longer have a conflict and could return to the room and to dissipate. >> basically, a process that i am proposing is one in which, one, would maximize per dissipation. members of the boar