A visitor to Toronto could only suppose that the election for mayor is to be held next week. The air is charged with the accusations, slurs, gutter language and snide reporting as though it were the final weeks of the campaign. And that is just in the social media.
But the commercial media seem just as rabid. Rosie DiManno is not about to have her pen bronzed and hung over the mantel while she retires to her rocker. The city hall media rabble—replete with cameras and recorders—are hardly about to forget their favourite part-time mayor of all the people. Nor are the partisan pretenders to the mayoralty about to relent and ease their attacks on each other.
And this is just the phony war! Babel-on-the-Bay promised you an update when the campaign got serious in September. That is still five months away.
It seems premature for voters to be picking their favourite mayoralty candidate from among the 45 contenders who have registered to date. Others have until September, so there is lots of time left and lots more possible candidates.
Happily, it can be reported that not much is really happening. Campaign managers and apparatchiks are still trying to figure out the formula for winning an election across this city. As in most such events, the leading contender at this point is the incumbent. And that drives his opponents crazy.
There is a serious need in this election for some strategic voting. Mind you, it has never worked before in Toronto and is not expected to work this time. Strategic voting would require a decision before the end of September as to which contender has the best chance of defeating the incumbent. If enough people agree and a few key contenders quit the race, you could have a de facto strategic vote.
But it is not going to happen. First of all, the mayoralty contenders are going to be so bruised from constant insults by September that they would rather see the incumbent win because he has been smart enough to ignore them.
Of course, they would all be wise to ignore their competitors. The truth is there are only three out of the current 45 that anyone needs to worry about. And only one of the three possible winners seems to have any idea of how to get elected in October.
Oh well, we will discuss it in detail in September. It will be important then.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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