Though there was some chatter about San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom exchanging his political lifestyle for a Falcon Crest one, this just isn't the case.

CBS 5's Joe Vazquez says that Newsom has no intention of leaving the political arena.

"He was absolutely being tongue in cheek," virginal Newsom spokesman Tony Winnicker told Vazquez. "It was said in the context of a much more thoughtful discussion about how the mayor feels the freedom to take stands on issues like same sex marriage without worrying about the next election."

This is all due to yesterday's aggressively cheeky Maureen Dowd interview with Gav, where he said, "This is it. God bless. It was fun while it lasted." But it was a joke. Which is odd. Since Newsom, we're told, is notorious for living a humor-free life.

"His point was that he has another life that he could go to, but he absolutely loves public policy," Winnicker added. "There are a lot of issues he wants to tackle - both as mayor and after - make no mistake he plans to stay in public life after he's mayor."