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I have been getting most of my news regarding the election from UT for the past week since CP24 and their eye-candy reporters are high from the drug called TIFF :rolleyes:

I cannot wait until TIFF is over so they could talk more about the next lame mayoral debate they plan to host. I still do not understand why they are not making any modifications to the debate to make it more exciting.
 
^ An still, UT doesn't seem to be very active in the political forums. Years ago, this place was bouncing. You'd write a comment and get a reply within seconds sometimes.

I imagine it'll get busier as the election gets closer, but by then, all the traditional media will be all hands on deck with Election 2010.

Can somebody recommend a political internet forum that has active threads on our election, and with individual threads for different ward races?
 
If nothing else, we're into quite a little race. I agree with Northern Magus that Smitherman has the most to gain by far right now. Rossi's lunge into Crazytown leaves a huge gap in the middle, which is where I think most Toronto voters still are, Rob Ford's summertime poll success notwithstanding. The progressive bloc in Toronto is a big, big group, and obviously hasn't been fired up by Pantalone...but also isn't sure yet what to make of Smitherman. I actually don't see the tax freeze thing as such a liability on this score. He can make a coherent argument, I think, for going after 'waste' from the left, IE as a threat to important services and to city-building. That's not ''Ford-lite,'' and explaining it in those terms might help progressives hold their noses, which many clearly want to do.

That said, there are two ways I can see this playing out from here--not in terms of result, but the pattern until election day. Clearly, we are about to get a couple of new polls at least.

A: Polls show little movement, with Ford in the lead, Smitherman a strong-but-not-quite-competitive second, and the rest scattered below 15 percent with a large group of undecideds. In this scenario I think Rossi fades fast. It's hard to think of how he could possibly grab more headlines, and the media will quickly tire of him if the ones he has produced aren't generating momentum. Maybe he drops out, maybe not. We now have the beginnings of a two-horse race, as Rossi, Thomson, and Pantalone supporters begin to think about their candidate's genuine chances. In this scenario I think Thomson also fades quickly. Pantalone is harder to gauge. Smitherman then embraces role as centrist, big tent guy vs Rob the Wrecker.

B: Rossi cuts significantly into Ford's support, while Smitherman's remains stable. In this barnburner, we have the three of them all in the 20s with Thomson and Pantalone not far behind. I think at this point there would be pretty much a free-for-all--a five-way, five-week fight for headlines and wedge issues. Rossi will see momentum and won't let up, while the others will keep trying to turn up the volume to gain the small groups of voters that could put them in the lead. Ground game becomes crucial in this one, which I think would probably benefit Ford (thanks to trucked-in 905ers) and Smitherman (leaning on Liberal party machine). But this one could still go any one of five ways, and could even result in a Mayor Thomson or Pantalone.

What fun!
 
allabootmatt said:
A: Polls show little movement, with Ford in the lead, Smitherman a strong-but-not-quite-competitive second, and the rest scattered below 15 percent with a large group of undecideds. In this scenario I think Rossi fades fast. It's hard to think of how he could possibly grab more headlines, and the media will quickly tire of him if the ones he has produced aren't generating momentum. Maybe he drops out, maybe not. We now have the beginnings of a two-horse race, as Rossi, Thomson, and Pantalone supporters begin to think about their candidate's genuine chances. In this scenario I think Thomson also fades quickly. Pantalone is harder to gauge. Smitherman then embraces role as centrist, big tent guy vs Rob the Wrecker.

B: Rossi cuts significantly into Ford's support, while Smitherman's remains stable. In this barnburner, we have the three of them all in the 20s with Thomson and Pantalone not far behind. I think at this point there would be pretty much a free-for-all--a five-way, five-week fight for headlines and wedge issues. Rossi will see momentum and won't let up, while the others will keep trying to turn up the volume to gain the small groups of voters that could put them in the lead. Ground game becomes crucial in this one, which I think would probably benefit Ford (thanks to trucked-in 905ers) and Smitherman (leaning on Liberal party machine). But this one could still go any one of five ways, and could even result in a Mayor Thomson or Pantalone.

What fun!
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Great analysis. Even though I'd prefer a Mayor Thomson or Pantalone, I'm hoping for option A. If it comes down to 2 or 3 candidates, I believe that most Torontonians would reject Rob Ford. Right now, 65% of them do.

At this point in the race, I'm finding every candidate but Ford acceptable... even Rossi. He may be using some crazy policy announcements to get some traction in the race, but overall, we know he's an intelligent and reasonable man. He's not the same kind of knee jerk politician as Ford, but neither would he be the methodical slow, stay the course politician as Miller. I think he can turn out to be a visionary and ambitious Mayor. If we look at his policies, he's not pro car, or pro transit. He's both. Even I see the urgent need to resolve our traffic gridlock. It's hurting our city, our citizens and if it gets any worse, our economy. I like that he's proposing Transit City with a subway component where it makes sense. Heck, if it comes down to Rossi being the one to beat Ford, I'd vote for him (and I'm a big Miller policy supporter).
 
MetroMan said:
Call me old fashioned but how can we get any in depth commentary in "160 characters or less"?
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Welcome to the year 2010.


MetroMan said:
At this point in the race, I'm finding every candidate but Ford acceptable... even Rossi. He may be using some crazy policy announcements to get some traction in the race, but overall, we know he's an intelligent and reasonable man. He's not the same kind of knee jerk politician as Ford, but neither would he be the methodical slow, stay the course politician as Miller. I think he can turn out to be a visionary and ambitious Mayor. If we look at his policies, he's not pro car, or pro transit. He's both. Even I see the urgent need to resolve our traffic gridlock. It's hurting our city, our citizens and if it gets any worse, our economy. I like that he's proposing Transit City with a subway component where it makes sense. Heck, if it comes down to Rossi being the one to beat Ford, I'd vote for him (and I'm a big Miller policy supporter).
Click to expand...

Sorry dude, you were making a lot of sense earlier, but this paragraph makes it seem like you totally missed the whole Spadina Expressway announcement! And I know you didn't.

That alone makes him a non-starter. What is he supposed to say when he hypothetically wins? "Oh, I was just kidding about the Spadina Expressway earlier guys! I know, I sounded pretty crazy, right? Don't worry, I'm not REALLY a crazy person."

Puh-lease.
 
Coltaine79 said:
Welcome to the year 2010.
Click to expand...

Welcome to 2010, when Tweets on #voteto invariably lead to complete articles, with the in depth commentary I'm looking for, but had already found through RSS feeds to popular media.

Coltaine79;443904 That alone makes him a non-starter. What is he supposed to say when he hypothetically wins? "[I said:
Oh, I was just kidding about the Spadina Expressway earlier guys! I know, I sounded pretty crazy, right? Don't worry, I'm not REALLY a crazy person.[/I]"

Puh-lease.
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To his benefit, and being the devil's advocate here, he said he'd commission a study and would fight for it, listening to engineers and planners on an alignment and viability. Also, where did you see him proposing the "Spadina Expressway"? I'm not a Rossi supporter by no means, but I'm also not making stuff up to make his proposals scarier. An end to end tunnel from the Allen to the Gardiner would in fact alleviate a lot of automobile gridlock. Downtown car capacity (including parking) would remain the same and continue to discourage people from driving that didn't have to, but it would allow existing traffic to flow better. If it could be built for even $500M per kilometre, that is something that our Mayor would have to fight for and get funding from provincial and federal levels. Other cities have built these tunnels, and other extremely expensive infrastructure (i.e. long span bridges), and they've done it not through property taxes (impossible), but through funding via senior levels of government. In our case we don't have that relationship with our senior levels. Maybe that is the problem.
 
Rossi doesn't particular scare me, though I don't suppport him at all. He's the closest thing we have to Mel Lastman in this race, in the sense that he'll say whatever it takes to get elected. My impression of him is that once in office he'd be rather pragmatic as opposed to ideological.
 
GraphicMatt said:
Rossi doesn't particular scare me, though I don't suppport him at all. He's the closest thing we have to Mel Lastman in this race, in the sense that he'll say whatever it takes to get elected. My impression of him is that once in office he'd be rather pragmatic as opposed to ideological.
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^^Exactly. This election is about people wanting radical changes. Two terms of a Mayor and no incumbent means that sentiment is pretty predictable. Rossi is only feeding on that, and he should. He's running for Mayor to win. Just like every other candidate.

I'm neither a supporter or a detractor of Rossi's at this point, but if he were elected, I'd welcome a little bit of more ambitious thinking. Toronto has been on a methodical and steady line of progress which I'm proud of but we're about due for some big thinking that brought us the CN Tower, Nathan Philips Square, the first subway lines. It will require changing our relationship with senior levels of government and a Conservative, Liberal insider might be the man for the job.
 
David Miller actually made some really great points on his CP24 show this past week about the Mayor needing a big picture view and the candidates running dont really have that yet. Its more plans here and there with a bunch of stabbing at each other's integrity and digging up dirt on each other.

Might be something good to watch if you can catch a repeat.
 
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I've been jumping back and forth between Sarah Thomson and Joe Pantalone as my choices for Mayor but Sarah just made it easier for me. She doesn't support the dismantlement of the Gardiner east of Jarvis. This is a very important part of returning the Waterfront to Toronto.

Her response:

1. Sarah opposes the removal of the Gardiner east of Jarvis. While an advocate of public transportation, Sarah feels that disconnecting the Gardiner from the DVP would result in traffic chaos.
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So it looks like I'll be voting Joe for Mayor as long as Rob Ford isn't in a position to win, in which case I won't be voting for who I want to be Mayor, but for who I don't. #2 would get my vote.
 
It makes sense to keep the Gardiner until the DVP.. So what would happen? You dip highway traffic onto Lakeshore, complete with traffic lights, only to put them back on a highway 2km down the road?

It's this type of thinking (and Transit City) that makes me wonder what was Miller (and co.) smoking, and where can I get it?
 
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