SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom Wednesday obtained nomination papers for the lieutenant governor's race, taking him one step closer to a possible run for statewide office, the mayor's office confirmed.

Newsom obtained the papers from the Department of Elections in City Hall and paid a filing fee of about $2,500, both prerequisites of filing to run. The mayor has not officially announced a decision on whether he will run for the seat and has until Friday to file the papers.

Newsom, who in October dropped out the race for the governor's seat, has said he is intrigued by the idea of working on the state level, but that he is weighing a number of factors, including his new family.

“You have to do these things just to keep the options open, so this just one of the three steps you have to take if you are going to put your name in the race,” said Newsom. “We will make a decision by the end of the week. We certainly have only to the end of the week.”

A poll conducted earlier this year of 600 likely Democratic voters statewide showed Newsom receiving 33 percent of the vote if he ran for lieutenant governor, compared to 17 percent for Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn and 15 percent for state Sen. Dean Florez from Kern County. The poll showed 35 percent of voters were undecided.

Both Hahn and Florez have declared their candidacy for the June primary. Candidates have until Friday to enter the primary.

KTVU asked former State Senate President Don Perata how often the lieutenant governor has a role in Sacramento. Perata said there was little to the job.

“The lieutenant governor is just kind of like a door stop,” explained Perata.

But Newsom -- in what might be an indication he does plan to run -- pointed out that the lieutenant governor serves on the UC Board of Regents and is acting governor when the real governor is out of the state.

“You have the bully pulpit,” said Newsom. “To me that is not just symbolic. You can actually make a real impact.”

Before he was contemplating a run, Newsom himself disparaged the importance of the lieutenant governor's office. Now his potential opponents have been having a field day with those remarks.

Hahn has posted a clip of Newsom on YouTube showing the mayor being asked what the lieutenant governor does.

His response? “For the life of me, I don't know.”

The mayor said he still isn't sure if he wants to leave the city he loves in the hands of an interim mayor.

If Newsom were to win the lieutenant governor's seat in the November election, he would remain mayor until taking the seat in January 2011. Board of Supervisors President David Chiu would then become mayor until the board, by a vote of six or greater, appointed an interim mayor.