[nfitz]

You'd be surprised.. My friends who have no idea what is going on in the city, heard of it and cannot believe they're building streetcars to nowhere.

An Eglinton subway is a streetcar to nowhere? Without looking up the numbers ... about $6 billion of the $9 billion for Transit City (2010-2020) is for that 12-km subway piece of the Eglinton line.

I'm just more worried about the mess on Bloor every time I take the line. The overcrowding is getting worse and worse, yet nobody wants to do anything about it.

That's what the Downtown relief line will fix. Thomson is backing that ... and I'm hoping that some of the other candidates will support it as well.

 

[nfitz]

Imagine??? What happened to saying that one would have to be delusional to think Ford might win? You're getting soft!

Well, I didn't think anyone would out-crazy Ford ... but with Rossi backing the Spadina Subway and bridges to the Island Airport, all bets are off ... Mad Rocco makes Ford look a little less crazy.

 

[EnviroTO]

I wish this spelling of "Thomson" as "Thompson" would stop.

Good point. Sarah can't spell her last name right and her family has spelt her name wrong for generations. Can I really vote for someone who can't spell their own name?

 

[adma]

If you're a Scarborough history buff, the spelling comes natually.

 

[King of Kensington]

Tories back Smitherman:

Former provincial Liberal cabinet minister George Smitherman, trying to stop the Rob Ford mayoral juggernaut, has attracted endorsements from high-profile Tories, including Mike Harris-era cabinet ministers.

“We’re conservatives. He’s a Liberal,†begins an open letter titled “Why We Support George†that includes the names of almost 40 provincial and federal Conservatives, including former citizenship, culture and recreation minister Isabel Basset.

She circulated the email at the request of his campaign, said Stefan Baranski, a spokesman for the candidate and former Conservative communications aide who is himself a signatory. Others include Jamie Watt, a strategist and senior Smitherman campaign adviser.

“He’s tough. But he’s fair,†says the letter also signed by former ministers Charles Harnick (attorney-general) and Dan Newman (environment). He “is the only candidate who has said it’s the mayor’s job to create the climate where businesses will thrive and jobs will be created right here,†the signatories say.

Smitherman, an early frontrunner who is now trailing the penny-pinching Ford, recently promised conservative measures including a “war on waste†and a temporary freeze on property taxes.

 

[Northern Magus]

Good grief, no wonder Pantalone can't grow his support beyond his NDP base:

Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone, the lone candidate on the left hoping to continue Mayor David Miller’s legacy, pounced on the news. “Mike Harris is back in the form of George Smitherman,” he said in a statement. “Why else would the Harris team have just endorsed him?”

Um, wouldn't that be Mike's ideological soulmate Rob Ford? Notice that these endorsements all come from Red Tories?

George is now trying to re-launch himself as the big-tent centrist candidate, which is good, but he still needs to find a unifying campaign theme and a couple of visionary announcements that really motivate people to come out and vote for him. But he's still playing it too safe.

 

[Coltaine79]

Right ... Toronto who cares about Toronto so much that she wants to sell off our libraries ... because that will improve libraries ...

You mean Thomson. Unless she changed her name to "Toronto" to try and increase her polling numbers.

Well, I didn't think anyone would out-crazy Ford ... but with Rossi backing the Spadina Subway and bridges to the Island Airport, all bets are off ... Mad Rocco makes Ford look a little less crazy.

That would be the Spadina Expressway. Unless he's just making it clear he won't tear down our beloved Spadina station.

 

[adma]

Good grief, no wonder Pantalone can't grow his support beyond his NDP base:

Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone, the lone candidate on the left hoping to continue Mayor David Miller’s legacy, pounced on the news. “Mike Harris is back in the form of George Smitherman,” he said in a statement. “Why else would the Harris team have just endorsed him?”

Um, wouldn't that be Mike's ideological soulmate Rob Ford? Notice that these endorsements all come from Red Tories?

Yeah, but said Red Tories were Harris (and in large part current Harper) toadies, anyway.

Then again, when it comes to people in glass houses etc, there's the whole John Laschinger factor to consider...

 

[TonyV]

This race is officially a whopper, now. The "better" provincial Tories have come out in favour of Smitherman.

While the idea of Ford leading the polls is basically still sick-making, the fact is that I am actually enjoying the drama of this race. Once upon a time Toronto was dull. And the best action is yet to come, this is only the 16th of September after all.

Newspapers will slag Ford and endorse others; there will undoubtedly be some dropouts, and there will be the usual veiled character assassinations that we have come to expect in elections nowadays.

Were it not for Ford, this would actually be fun! It's not fun, though. Ford represents a serious threat to this city's reputation.

 

[spider]

Much conjecture has been offered as to what would happen to the current supposed ranking of the candidates if one or another of them dropped off the ballot for whatever reason. I don't think I have seen a scenario proposed where the dropout is RF, it could happen.
Then what?

 

[jn_12]

why would RF drop out?

 

[spider]

why would RF drop out?

Health reasons maybe, not the healthiest looking guy in the race?
How about that old favourite "to spend more time with the family".

I am just curious about how the active minds on this thread would run with such a scenario.

 

[Blovertis]

Health reasons maybe, not the healthiest looking guy in the race?
How about that old favourite "to spend more time with the family".

I am just curious about how the active minds on this thread would run with such a scenario.

I've got an active mind alright, but it's not hyperactive.

Ford's staying in, no matter what.

 

[GraphicMatt]

Fat jokes aside, Ford seriously does not look healthy for a man who's only 40. But the feature on him in Toronto Life this month talks about a passion for politics that goes so deep that he sees himself as Prime Minister one day. He's not quitting.

If Ford drops out, Rossi goes even further right to try to grab those votes. Race comes down to Joe versus George versus Rocco.

There's a lot of variables in play right now.

 

[Northern Magus]

There's no way Ford is dropping out, not when he's been polling in 1st for this long, and not when he's as headstrong as he is. But his ability to keep soft supporters in his fold is probably fatally compromised, as is his ability to win over large swaths of undecideds.

Ford is essentially a single issue politician who's been fortunate enough to be the right candidate with the right message at the right time. It's no accident that he's been tapping rage in a specific demographic, to his campaign's credit.

But being the guy who will take a baseball bat to the city and city hall will only get him so far. His lock on the Angry Vote will continue to keep him in the race for quite a while yet, but George and Rocco are already working to siphon off the (likely substantial) number of his supporters who are frustrated and not angry. It's tough to see the tunnel announcement as anything other than a huge attempted heist of Ford's natural constituency by Rocco. If it translates into further momentum, look for George to go on the attack over the gridlock and pollution it will cause, as well as its city-destroying effects and gargantuan costs -- he'll have finally found a winning campaign focus that will define and contrast him favourably to the alternatives.