First mayoral forum this year. Some thoughts:
Nenshi is far and away the best debater, which can translate well into a good vote tally. People like a guy with charisma, and he has it. But more importantly, he has the platform to back up everything he says. And I'm not just saying that because I will be voting for him; you look at the other candidates and I have to question the passion behind their words (sans Oscar Fech).
McIver was surpisingly quiet and reserved for most of the night, but loved taking pot shots at Hawksworth. "Dr. No" obviously has years of experience to back up anything he plans to do - that is, IF he plans to do anything. Sounds like it's more just the same pandering and "maybes" he gives off in all his vibes at these things, and definitely should have address the numerous amount of times he got called out on flip flopping. BTW, we really should call him "Blinky" from now on; either he had something in his eye or he's got a bad case of OCD.
Higgins: Vague. Didn't come across as strongly as Nenshi, but better than I hoped. She tends to have a focus on environment and social issues, which I support. I'd say she's not ready to be a Mayor though; she needs a bit more experience dealing with the public rather than telling them things in front of a microphone.
Jon Lord was surprisingly good as well. Takes the "small business" entrepreneurship role in his dealings with the City, but is clearly all about making an urban Calgary a better Calgary. Supports secondary suites and all that.
Connelly came across too much as a sleazy car salesman. Too bad as well, because he did have some cogent points, even if people didn't want to hear it.
Hawkesworth looks uninspired. His whole campaign seems to be bringing in a SE LRT line, so if that's all he is, good luck.
Wayne Stewart is really pushing the P3 idea (which I like), but is clearly just not a good enough public speaker to do this job. I'm sure his experience managing big multimillion dollar projects would come in handy, but you need the people skills and the charisma to pull it off. Not sure he's the right candidate.
Gary Johnston. His angle is being the blue collar guy. No substance at all, except calling out the media for promoting the candidate they prefer best. That was a good point.
Oscar Fech? This guy has to be the joker in the bunch. I heard things about him before I listened to him tonight, and all the rumors are true - this guy is like something out of the Twilight Zone. He clearly believes City Hall has an agenda against him, he really has no platform to speak of, he was flip flopping everywhere on urban sprawl and other issues, and came across as a poor public speaker. However, his catch line "Can you believe it?" was catchy and gave people a laugh. This guy is a conspiracy theorist to the bone.
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