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Riverdale Rink Rat said:
Listen, the right-wingers in this thread are seriously trying to turn me into a leftist against my will. To call Chow a similarly politically divisive figure to Ford is undiluted insanity. I don't understand, but I'm trying, how Miller made right-wing heads explode. I really think it was his tendency to want to be the 'smartest guy in the room.' But Chow? She's been in Ottawa for 7 years. Her husband was the feel good story of recent Canadian politics. Sure, she's left wing. But she's not a monster, and Ford is the most divisive, most incompetent, most scandalous Mayor that Toronto has EVER seen! Keep some perspective, people!
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Which right-wingers are you referring to? I've never voted for a conservative candidate municipally, provincially or federally :p.
I don't think what I was saying is undiluted insanity. Rob Ford has die-hard fans and die-hard opponents, which is why he's a polarizing figure. I think that Chow also has her die-hard fans and die-hard opponents (generally those who are staunchly anti-NDP, anti-union, anti-downtown, and all that other Rob Ford crap), which is why I said she's also a polarizing figure. Chow is IMO less polarizing than Ford, but polarizing nonetheless. Hopefully in the few months ahead of us, she'll be able to appeal to "the masses" and not just to stereotypical NDPers.
 
TFC said:
Which right-wingers are you referring to? I've never voted for a conservative candidate municipally, provincially or federally :p.
I don't think what I was saying is undiluted insanity. Rob Ford has die-hard fans and die-hard opponents, which is why he's a polarizing figure. I think that Chow also has her die-hard fans and die-hard opponents (generally those who are staunchly anti-NDP, anti-union, anti-downtown, and all that other Rob Ford crap), which is why I said she's also a polarizing figure. Chow is IMO less polarizing than Ford, but polarizing nonetheless. Hopefully in the few months ahead of us, she'll be able to appeal to "the masses" and not just to stereotypical NDPers.
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The only die-hard opponents of Chow are right-wing ideologues who have decided in advance that they will oppose whichever candidate is furthest to the left. They opposed Smitherman just as vehemently despite the fact that he campaigned on a centre-right platform. Chow already appeals to the "masses". She has a 57% approval rating. That's as high or higher than any other candidate running, and it's higher than Rob Ford's approval has ever been (save the month right after his 2010 election).

Ford's die-hard opponents, on the other hand, are just people who want to bring some sanity and dignity back to the office of mayor. They represent all sides of the political spectrum and are a large majority of the population.

Furthermore, candidates and political parties who try to represent the "mushy middle" campaign from a position of weakness. It's much better to stand strong for something and convince the electorate that that something is worth voting for. Miller did it with anti-corruption and waterfront revitalization, Ford did it with taxes and cars. Chow is trying to do the same thing with her pro-family, job-creation message. Most people don't have an ideology. They want taxes low, they want a beautiful, functional city, and they want reliable social services for themselves and their families. It's up to the candidates to draw the electorate's attention to some issues over others. People were so obsessed over taxes in 2010, they were willing to overlook the questionable parts of Ford's candidacy. They were so obsessed with disfunction and corruption in 2003 they were willing to overlook Miller's admission that he would raise property taxes by up to 3% a year.
 
TFC said:
Electing Chow as mayor will isolate a large segment of the population who don't share her ideology, similar to how electing Ford has isolated a large segment of the population.
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Actually, the truer left-wing corollary to Fordian "isolationism" would have been if Tooker Gomberg were elected in 2000.

(Except, as I think of it, Gomberg was too good-natured. But in a different way, John Sewell in 1978-80 might have been the most authentically, alienatingly "left-isolationist" mayor Toronto has ever had. And Chow shows little or no sign of being Sewell-esque at this point in time.)
 
TFC said:
Which right-wingers are you referring to? I've never voted for a conservative candidate municipally, provincially or federally :p.
I don't think what I was saying is undiluted insanity. Rob Ford has die-hard fans and die-hard opponents, which is why he's a polarizing figure. I think that Chow also has her die-hard fans and die-hard opponents (generally those who are staunchly anti-NDP, anti-union, anti-downtown, and all that other Rob Ford crap), which is why I said she's also a polarizing figure. Chow is IMO less polarizing than Ford, but polarizing nonetheless. Hopefully in the few months ahead of us, she'll be able to appeal to "the masses" and not just to stereotypical NDPers.
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If you are not right wing, my apologies, but you have absorbed the right-wing image of Chow. At this current point in time, Ford is unbelievably divisive, but Tory and Stintz are also more polarizing than Chow (one due to perception of competance, the other for perception of flip-floppery). Chow has yet to give anyone something to get 'polarized' about, except history. Being left wing is not 'polarizing' in and of itself. In fact, given her level of support and approval referenced above, she may be the least polarizing of the candidates, outside of Soknacki.
 
I met David Miller on the bus this morning, I asked him what he thinks of David Soknacki and he said "He has a good chance, he's got the right message and has done all the right moves so far". :)

I had to get off at the stop after unfortunately.
 
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WislaHD said:
I met David Miller on the bus this morning, I asked him what he thinks of David Soknacki and he said "He has a good chance, he's got the right message and has done all the right moves so far". :)

I had to get off at the stop after unfortunately.
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If he's working for the World Wildlife Fund maybe he was going to/from their office at Mt Pleasant & Eg.
 
Ford revelations, part infinity: the mayoral candidates react:

http://torontoist.com/2014/03/mayoral-candidates-respond-to-latest-rob-ford-revelations/#more-310299

Chow criticizes Ford, neatly pivots into plugging her upcoming transit announcement.

Tory delivers a decent response, nothing flashy.

Soknacki does the same broadly as Ford, but refers to himself in the third person, which comes off as weird compared to Chow's 'I'. I realize that both campaigns probably had someone (not the candidate) craft the responses, though.

Stintz is firing the flare guns and lowering the lifeboats.
 
I wonder why she isn't running for the federal Liberal nomination in Trinity-Spadina. The provincial Liberals picked someone else, so maybe she burnt bridges with the riding association.

The Twitter reaction matches my own. Not only is there another ring to this circus, Thomson is bringing the clown car.
 
Wow. Because Sarah Thomson was what was missing from this mayoral election.

She's somewhere between the C-Tier (occupied by Norm Gardner) and the Y-Tier (occupied by Richard Underhill). I'll just put her in the Y-Tier with the Shuffle Demon.
 
Sean Marshall, if you run for mayor, I would rank you high.

You are very knowledgeable about the city, much more so than Ford. I would put you ahead of Rob Ford.

However, Chow has a better chance of winning.
 
dforthandbview said:
Oh great, Sarah Thomson is running for mayor again. She's filing her papers tomorrow morning.
https://twitter.com/spaikin/status/446452416587005952

She's weird: http://thomsonto.tumblr.com/
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It was bad enough when she tried to jump on the Chow co-op non-story bandwagon. I don't mind if she wants to post rambling poems on a Tumblr feed, but if she presents no substance in terms of policies and just apes other candidates' criticisms of other candidates, what's the point?
 
Sarah Thomson isn’t really running for mayor. I’m not buying the idea that she actually thinks she can win. For a long time, she was very vocal about wanting John Tory to run for mayor. She has thrown her support behind him for so long that it seems odd that she has suddenly decided to run for mayor again herself as a possible serious contender. My guess is that she does indeed support John Tory for mayor and she is hoping this campaign of hers will gather enough supporters for her that when she drops out in the summer, she can just simply tell all her supporters that John Tory is the man she supports and the man they should support as well thus making Tory’s chances of winning stronger. I’m thinking Thomson isn’t afraid of Rob Ford getting re-elected, but is fearful that Olivia Chow will get elected instead and put forward a heavy LRT transit plan. Thomson and Tory are more subway expansion supporters where as Chow is slightly warm to that and we all know this election's number issue is transit expansion. Hell, on Thomson's campaign website, she calls the Downtown Relief Line the Yonge Subway Relief Line just like Tory does and in her name logo, the T and O are different colours... just like Tory's campaign name logo. She just wants to be the Liberal candidate who will end up supporting Tory in the end.

Thomson would have a much greater chance at winning a council seat than the mayor’s seat, but she is doing this to gather support she can swing over to Tory when she feels ready to drop out to help Tory win the election.
 
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I got to say that after that fiery campaign speech to his supporters tonight, I'm thinking John Tory really is the right person for this job. I'm a Karen Stintz fan, but Tory really would be a fantastic mayor for Toronto. I'm supporting him now and I hope others do too. I love that his campaign slogan is 'TOGETHER'. Simple, elegant and effective. GO JOHN TORY GO!
 
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