Next Mayor of Toronto?

[spider]

Just as Rossi was becoming more palatable ( palatable in the sense that none of the candidates are that great as revealed to date) as a right wing choice we hear that there is trouble in head office.

My wife and I were contemplating migrating to Rossi because he has espoused many of the platform planks originated by Ford whose image has deteriorated badly lately. All of the candidates have moved to the right because of Ford's success in reading the public's anger except Joe who is rightfully recognised as a part of the problem and as such can't be called on to fix it let alone realise that it exists. I thank Ford for driving the anti-Miller message home.

Would a move to Rossi be misconstrued as strategic voting to deny Smitherman the crown or conversely a move to guarantee his coronation?

 

[TwoDogs_39]

I thought Joe could do no wrong, until I saw this:

Joe Pantalone Endorsements:

George Smitherman
Rocco Rossi

I get that Smitherman and Rossi said that Joe is the candidate they'd support if they weren't running, but that's not an endorsement. It certainly doesn't merit being on his official endorsement page. That is just outright lying and deception!! It's infuriating! I was ready to pull the trigger on Pants but this does it. Bye bye Joe.

/former Joe Pantalone supporter.

Wow, this is quite shameful. Maybe it's an attempt at humour, but given that it's on the official endorsements page, it doesn't come across as a joke. The uniformed voter, who doesn't know the context of those quotes, might actually believe it. Does smell of desperation though.

 

[adma]

why have an impotent figure head? Thisis why Great cities like Chicago and NYC get so much more things done without the beuracracy and having to appease every little radical idea from a small pocket of the population... More Mayoral power.

Given your hilarious misspelling of "bureaucracy" and your weird approach to capitalization, no wonder you're one to argue for Ford as a ChiNYC-style "strong mayor".

 

[duper]

Given your hilarious misspelling of "bureaucracy" and your weird approach to capitalization, no wonder you're one to argue for Ford as a ChiNYC-style "strong mayor".

Agreed.
And a supposed "strong mayor" also won't get very far in a council where each councillor has the same number of votes as the mayor.


Smitherman has the broadest coalition of support. That in itself tells you which candidate can actually get things done at city hall.

 

[MetroMan]

It's kind of maddening to know that public figures will probably get behind a movement to prevent Ford from cancelling arts funding, getting rid of streetcars, or moving marathons.... once he is Mayor but are uninvolved to prevent him from getting into that position.

Where are prominent Torontonians now? Influential people like George Stroumboulopoulos could get tens of thousands of young people to the polls if they wanted to. What the "TORONTO CANNOT AFFORD" movement is missing is a familiar face.

 

[GraphicMatt]

I don't know about Strombo, but I'll be seriously disappointed if John Tory doesn't issue a strong endorsement that directs his audience away from Ford.

 

[MetroMan]

I would expect media endorsements to pop up by now. Where's TheStar editorial endorsement? They always issue one. I've been hearing about a Toronto Sun Rossi endorsement coming over the past two days. Tory was a Thomson supporter, so he should by extension be endorsing Smitherman -- his sons already did. What's the hold up? Is everybody waiting until a week til election day?

 

[GraphicMatt]

I don't know about municipal campaigns particularly, but I know in provincial/federal contests the media outlets tend to wait until the final week of the campaign to make their picks. Making an early endorsement tends to lead to (increased) calls of bias in reporting.

 

[King of Kensington]

I think it's interesting that old man Joe Pantalone the 30-year career politician has more Facebook friends than the supposedly more "swinging" and "hip" Smitherman.

 

[MetroMan]

Well, hopefully they do come. I honestly cannot see a single credible media outlet endorsing Ford. I wonder if that will work against him or help him as the anti-establishment candidate.

Maybe we can have some fun with endorsement predictions:

TheStar - Smitherman
Toronto Sun - Rossi
Globe&Mail - Smitherman
NationalPost - Rossi
Now Magazine - Pants
CityTV - Pants
CTV - Smitherman
Spacing - Pants
BlogTO - Smitherman

John Tory - Smitherman

Add your own media outlet and/or public figure and your predictions.

 

[urbandreamer]

^Old news, here's what twitter thinks:

1)http://twitter.com/roccothevoteto 2,381 Following 2,562 Followers 249 Listed

2)https://twitter.com/jpantalone 1,666 Following 1,867 Followers 179 Listed

3)http://twitter.com/robfordteam 210 Following 1,828 Followers 167 Listed

4)http://twitter.com/teamsmitherman 862 Following 1,029 Followers 84 Listed

If this was America, Rocco would be mayor. (Rocco also has vastly more facebook fans than any other candidate.)

 

[GraphicMatt]

The main George account is G_Smitherman. It's at 3,065 followers.

 

[GenerationW]

If Ford gets more than 50% of the popular vote, then he can complain about things being undemocratic. As it stands, even if he wins, a large majority of the public will have voted against him.

Voted against him, or voted for someone else? Anyway, no matter who comes out on top, I don't see how even a 40% victory in a four-person race can't be seen as a large mandate.

Finally, (and I don't know how many times I need to say it) there's nothing wrong with taxes. We should be taxed more.

So I guess you're voting for no one.

Smitherman has the broadest coalition of support. That in itself tells you which candidate can actually get things done at city hall.

First of all, his list of supporters is filled with people from outside Toronto, and second, claiming that his "broadest coalition" can get things done is just that -- a claim.

Where are prominent Torontonians now? Influential people like George Stroumboulopoulos could get tens of thousands of young people to the polls if they wanted to.

I can buy tens, but not tens of thousands. He certainly influences me to change the channel.

 

[GenerationW]

Latest poll (sort of):
http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/10/12/latest-mayor-munch-poll-results-suggest-close-race/

 

[MetroMan]

I can buy tens, but not tens of thousands. He certainly influences me to change the channel.

Newsflash: the world doesn't revolve around you.

I don't often watch his show but I recognize that he's a very influential figure in Toronto and has a very large following.