[urbandreamer]

I may change my mind as the week goes on, but today, my gut feeling is...

Rob Ford in a landslide. It won't even be close.

 

[Coltaine79]

Just heard Pantalone on CBC Radio Morning declaring he would either spoil his ballot or refrain from voting if faced with a choice of only Ford or Smitherman. He says one is just as bad as the other.

What an utter disgrace he has become. For a politician to actually promote staying at home as a possible option in an election is beyond the pale; after 30 years, does he not understand that politics is about making choices -- usually among a range of unpalatable options?

Sorry, but to me it sounds like this buffoon shouldn't have ever been elected to council in the first place. :/

 

[jn_12]

Isn't that the equivelent of a hockey team down by 4 points not 'trying' anymore?

Isn't that worst than the coach throwing in the towel?

The NDP have NEVER been about the city, only advancing union grip hold of Toronto.

I didn't know hockey teams scored points.
And why is there integrity in quitting the day before the cut-off date, but a lack of integrity in quitting the day after? If we want to continue the hockey analogy, isn't that like saying it's okay to end the game in the dressing room after the 2nd period but not once the teams come out on the ice for the 3rd?

I would say this is far more comparable to an entire season, whereby players are traded to contending teams close to the playoffs. Teams acknowledge that they're not good enough to make the playoffs, so if they can't win they might as well get something out of it. In this case, rather than a high end draft pick, they get the satisfaction of knowing they've prevented another team from winning (which is a common sentiment in the sports world). Mind you, I guess this political scenario is more like baseball whereby you can actually make trades after the trading deadline...

 

[duper]

I would say this is far more comparable to an entire season, whereby players are traded to contending teams close to the playoffs. Teams acknowledge that they're not good enough to make the playoffs, so if they can't win they might as well get something out of it.

To carry your analogy further, if the Ford team wins, they might tear down the arena and cancel future seasons for budgetary reasons. Pantalone needs to decide why he's staying in this race, and stop lying about Smitherman's record.

 

[TwoDogs_39]

Just came from the debate at the 519. Ford chickened out, as reported earlier in Xtra, given his horrible and offensive history with the queer community. It was just Smitherman vs Pants. George had to leave early, so it was only about 30 minutes long. But it was by the far most heated and intense debate I've seen. Pants kept attacking Smitherman about his numbers and his proposal to cut $800m over 4 years. It was kinda a weak and overly repeated argument, and I don't think it holds much clout.

The best part of the debate though was the last question, when a guy asked Pants why he wouldn't consider building a coalition with George to beat Ford, given that his numbers are so low. Pants got pretty furious (for a easy-going man), and said that the queer community shouldn't even be asking that question given all the work he's done on council over the years. It got lots of applause.

But so too Smitherman's response, that the question is valid, and that the threat of Ford winning would be devastating for this city. He even mentioned that Pants had advocated for people to spoil their ballot rather than vote for George or Ford, something which Smitherman viewed as a disgrace for a public politician to advocate. I agree with him! I hadn't heard about Pants saying that before. I think that got the loudest applause of the night. Was SOO INTENSE!

 

[MetroMan]

Wow.. this graphic shows a very clear trend. Ford has a downward momentum and Smitherman a dramatic upward trend. A week might be just enough for those lines to intersect.

 

[Peepers]

Wow. For a politician to say that shows remarkably bad judgment. It's frankly irresponsible.

There is actually nothing wrong with what Pantalone said. If a person cannot in good conscience cast their vote for a candidate then spoiling the ballot is a valid alternative. A person should never vote for the sake of voting, at the end of the day we all have to live by our decisions. By spoiling the ballot at least you are taking part in the process instead of staying at home. I would never vote for Pantalone but I hope that all of his supporters who believe in his NDP policies will cast their vote for him and not be swayed by the anyone but Ford cries from the Smitherman campaign.

 

[Peepers]

He even mentioned that Pants had advocated for people to spoil their ballot rather than vote for George or Ford, something which Smitherman viewed as a disgrace for a public politician to advocate. I agree with him! I hadn't heard about Pants saying that before. I think that got the loudest applause of the night. Was SOO INTENSE!

For someone who has been in politics as long as Smitherman he should know that there was nothing wrong with Pantalones suggestion of spoiling the ballot (i.e PROTEST VOTES). If you cannot in good conscience cast a vote for a candidate then spoiling the ballot is a valid alternative. Better then sitting at home. For Smitherman to raise this as an issue just goes to prove - once again - what an uneducated know-nothing this man is (did he even finish high-school?). Is it any wonder that he screwed up everything he touched at Queens Park? $1 Billion wasted on e-health - no-bid backroom contract with Samsung for overpriced wind energy that will see our energy rates skyrocket even further. ALL of us will be paying for Smithermans blunders the rest of our lives. Why reward his monumental failures by electing him Mayor of Toronto?

 

[nfitz]

I may change my mind as the week goes on, but today, my gut feeling is...

Rob Ford in a landslide. It won't even be close.

We'd need a huge gamechanger for that to happen. The polling shows a dead heat. But the undecided leans toward Smitherman. Half of Pantalone's support leans toward Smitherman. And polls have indicated that Smitherman supporters have a higher intent of actually voting than Ford supporters.

Here's my forecast:

Smitherman 47
Ford 39
Pantalone 11
Other 3

 

[GenerationW]

Well they are staying in it until the end. They've just said they won't be campaigning anymore. By all means, vote for them, but they won't be actively seeking your vote for whatever the reason. The cut-off date is just an arbitrary day set by the City for legal and functional purposes. What if Rossi and Thompson simply stopped campaigning but didn't announce it? It's no different.

Considering there are hundreds of people running for public office, you don't think a bunch have given up and stopped campaigning? The only difference is, they don't get the media attention. For example, is Carmen Macklin still actively persuing votes? I don't know, you'd have trouble even finding her on the internet. Someone at some point decided Rossi and Thompson were worthy of media attention and that's the only difference between them and the Carmen Macklins of this election.

I don't consider it an arbitrary day. And there was no possibility that Rossi and Thomson would stop campaigning without announcing it because they are/were high profile candidates, and have future political aspirations. They couldn't get away with saying nothing.

As for the fringe candidates running for office, without legitimate backers and a decent resume they were pretty much all no-hopers before September 10 and no-hopers after. They'll only get a very limited number of votes no matter what they do.

I would say this is far more comparable to an entire season, whereby players are traded to contending teams close to the playoffs. Teams acknowledge that they're not good enough to make the playoffs, so if they can't win they might as well get something out of it. In this case, rather than a high end draft pick, they get the satisfaction of knowing they've prevented another team from winning (which is a common sentiment in the sports world).

But every team still plays out the season and competes to try and win every game. No one takes their ball and goes home.

Which is even worse if true, effectively encouraging people not to vote.

To carry your analogy further, if the Ford team wins, they might tear down the arena and cancel future seasons for budgetary reasons. Pantalone needs to decide why he's staying in this race, and stop lying about Smitherman's record.

Pretty obvious that, like many Torontonians, Pantalone thinks Smitherman is essentially no better than Ford, and, if I may read between the lines, is worse than Ford. Since I won't vote for Ford and his three sentences repeated over and over, and Smitherman drips with sleaze every time I see him, and since Joe Pants actually has the courage of his convictions, he's got my vote.

And Mr. Duper, I don't appreciate seeing a partisan hack like you disparage the only candidate among the original five to show, by a large margin, the highest level of integrity from start to finish. Why don't you take your dull self and stick to knocking on doors the rest of the week?

 

[MetroMan]

We'd need a huge gamechanger for that to happen. The polling shows a dead heat. But the undecided leans toward Smitherman. Half of Pantalone's support leans toward Smitherman. And polls have indicated that Smitherman supporters have a higher intent of actually voting than Ford supporters.

Here's my forecast:

Smitherman 47
Ford 39
Pantalone 11
Other 3

Man, I hope you're right. I'm cautiously optimistic but I'm completely prepared for a surprise Ford win.

David Miller's radio ads for Pants are pretty alluring to this raving Miller fan, but I already sided with rational thinking and voted for Smitherman this past weekend.

 

[Fac1]

And polls have indicated that Smitherman supporters have a higher intent of actually voting than Ford supporters.

Which polls showed this? I only remember one and wasn't that the 400 person poll which had Smitherman in the lead?

 

[Peepers]

I may change my mind as the week goes on, but today, my gut feeling is...

Rob Ford in a landslide. It won't even be close.

I think Rob Ford will win big also provided that Pantalone stays in the race. This is based not so much on gut feeling but by simply observing the comment sections of online news sites like the Star, CBC, Globe etc. where support for Rob Ford seems to be at least 80%. I know these observations are not scientific but the passion for Rob is undeniable. We know that there has been a huge surge in advance polling which I suspect are from all the passionate Rob Ford supporters getting out early. I can't imagine that Dalton McGuinty's former right-hand man is driving voters to advance polls in record numbers.

I think the latest polls showing a tightening in the race were quite possibly rigged by the powerful forces supporting Smitherman. They are trying to manipulate the vote by presenting Smitherman as the only one with a chance to beat Ford, i.e. using bogus polls as a way of getting Pantalone to drop out of the race.

 

[nfitz]

Which polls showed this? I only remember one and wasn't that the 400 person poll which had Smitherman in the lead?

I thought it was the September 27 Global result ... which was 400 people; though that one showed Ford leading with 34% of the decided vote; Smitherman at 28%.

Judging from what I'm hearing, the surge of voters at the advanced polls are people, particularly younger people who've never voted before, coming out to vote against Ford.

 

[mangasparky]

So Rob Ford is in the lead again? Holy smokes.