Anyone who thinks that Gondek can beat Farkas head-to-head doesn't have a good understanding of municipal affairs or the electorate in Calgary. The only way Bronconnier and Nenshi won originally were due to the conservative vote being split. Bronconnier won with 28.3% of the vote in 2001 and Nenshi with 39.6% in 2010. Neither would have won had there not been two other high profile conservative candidates splitting the right wing vote.
I doubt Nenshi runs for public office again. What's the point? The guy can make far more money and enjoy a private life, something he hasn't been able to do for eleven years now. Not all politicians want to feed at the public trough for their entire lives, like Kenney and McIver.
Getting Stephen Carter is huge for Gondek, but Farkas is going to cruise to victory with about two-thirds of the vote unless there's another high profile, financially backed conservative who enters the race, which I think is highly doubtful at this point. It is just too late in the game.
The housing developers run Calgary, and that's not likely to change anytime soon. As far as I see it, this race is over already, before a single vote is cast. He'll promise to get rid of all municipal spending on art sometime in September to clinch the race, and he'll have the votes on the new city council to do it.
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