Calgary Civic Election: Mayoralty Poll #4 - The Heat is On

[Bunk]

Yeah, because calgary always elects conservative mayors. uh huh. Bronconnier? Duerr, anyone?

Either way, Nenshi seems to appeal to people from across the political spectrum. He doesn't brand himself or frame issues in terms of "conservative" or "liberal" - more of a pragmatic outcome based public policy approach. As he says "is snow removal a left or right issue? Is garbage pick up a left or right issue?" This is civic politics.

The comparison to Obama is interesting, but largely superficial. I'd say in campaign strategy - use of social media, and his large base of largely small individual donations he has taken a page from Obama. They're both very intelligent and well spoken. Beyond that, they're not all that similar and not really comparable because one is leader of a political party running for president in the US and one is running for mayor of calgary.

[jammies]

Originally Posted by Bunk;

The comparison to Obama is interesting, but largely superficial.

Well they are both Muslim.

[NiklasSundblad]

Originally Posted by Red-Mile-DJ

Yeesh! Should just call this the "We love Nenshi thread."

McIver is going to be Calgary's next mayor. In conservative Calgary...this will happen. Sorry...Nenshi isn't an Obama, and Calgary isn't ready for his type of drastic change.

The public will vote for "the devil they know" rather than the "devil they don't know."

Just my 2 cents.

CP isn't exactly a bastion of leftism, and yet...

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by NiklasSundblad

CP isn't exactly a bastion of leftism, and yet...

Certainly nor is Beyond.ca - which is a calgary car enthusiast forum, yet in their poll:

Nenshi - 200 (59.7%)
McIver - 84 (25.07%)
Higgins - 34 (10.15%

335 votes

http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.p...=&pagenumber=1

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Red-Mile-DJ

Yeesh! Should just call this the "We love Nenshi thread."

McIver is going to be Calgary's next mayor. In conservative Calgary...this will happen. Sorry...Nenshi isn't an Obama, and Calgary isn't ready for his type of drastic change.

The public will vote for "the devil they know" rather than the "devil they don't know."

Just my 2 cents.

I'm not sure he's advocating that much of a liberal change. Looking at his platform he seems more like a pragmatic kind of person rather than really left or right leaning.

If anything I was pegging him to be fiscally conservative advocating cuts and reform.

[octothorp]

I think Nenshi is probably best-described as a social liberal fiscal conservative, although Bunk is correct, the labels mean little in civic politics. But I think it's reflective of where Alberta politics are going, keeping fiscal conservatism but mellowing away from a social conservative perspective. I see the broad support for Nenshi coming from the same sentiment that gives Danielle Smith broad appeal in provincial politics (not saying the two are politically alike - the city would fall apart pretty quickly with a libertarian mayor).

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Certainly nor is Beyond.ca - which is a calgary car enthusiast forum, yet in their poll:

Nenshi - 200 (59.7%)
McIver - 84 (25.07%)
Higgins - 34 (10.15%

335 votes

http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.p...=&pagenumber=1

Neither is 660 news

Nenshi - 57%
McIver - 17%
Higgins - 23%

http://www.660news.com/

Though I wonder the accuracy of online polls in representing the general population given most of Nenshi support is drawn from the youth and social media.

[GirlySports]

sounds like once it's all said and done, Nenshi might win by a landslide.

[Shazam]

Cities typically tend to vote in extremely liberal mayors.

CP is not right-wing at all. I'm probably the most right-wing person here.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by Madman

Cause he's not white and Calgary is redneck country?

No, that's why people are wearing purple in the C of Red.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

Neither is 660 news

Nenshi - 57%
McIver - 17%
Higgins - 23%

http://www.660news.com/

Though I wonder the accuracy of online polls in representing the general population given most of Nenshi support is drawn from the youth and social media.

Something like the 660 news polls - Nenshi's team posts - "go vote in this poll to support Naheed" on facebook with the link and within ten minutes several hundred supporters have gone and voted.
Not so with online forums like CP, or Beyond, although with these it's more politically engaged and a younger demographic than the general public.

Nenshi supporter's online dedication is an indication that they are heavily enganged, are certainly likely to vote and more importantly are persuaders to friends and family who are less engaged. Watching Nenshi's facebook followers rise in the past week or two has been something else. I think he's up by about 500 'likes' just since this morning. That's a third the number of Higgins' total 'likes'.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

sounds like once it's all said and done, Nenshi might win by a landslide.

I really don't think so. Although I would love a landslide, in reality I think the final result will be within a couple thousand votes 1st to 2nd and maybe even 2nd to 3rd.

[FlameOn]

It seems like Connelly endorses... himself
http://communities.canada.com/calgar...-the-race.aspx

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Yeah, because calgary always elects conservative mayors. uh huh. Bronconnier? Duerr, anyone?

Either way, Nenshi seems to appeal to people from across the political spectrum. He doesn't brand himself or frame issues in terms of "conservative" or "liberal" - more of a pragmatic outcome based public policy approach. As he says "is snow removal a left or right issue? Is garbage pick up a left or right issue?" This is civic politics.

The comparison to Obama is interesting, but largely superficial. I'd say in campaign strategy - use of social media, and his large base of largely small individual donations he has taken a page from Obama. They're both very intelligent and well spoken. Beyond that, they're not all that similar and not really comparable because one is leader of a political party running for president in the US and one is running for mayor of calgary.

As much as it might amaze some on here (probably too young to remember) Klein was a card carrying Liberal as well. When he decided to move to provincial politics there was a large question as to which party he was going to run for.

[Knut]

True^. He did just throw money at a problem without providing a solution just like a liberal would do.

Money = change
Problem = the homeless

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by Hesla

True^. He did just throw money at a problem without providing a solution just like a liberal would do.

I'm always a bit mystified when 'conservatives' claim they are better fiscal managers than so-called 'liberals'.

This cartoon comes to mind:

[Bunk]

Given this discussion right now on political leanings, I think this national post article is apropos:

Calgary's underdog mayoral candidate Naheed Nenshi defies categories

“He’s a dichotomy: When you look at first glance, you see him as a university professor and you might want to write him off as an academic,” said Mr. Rotchild, who met his “policy geek” friend while working together on a non-profit environmental initiative. “But he’s worked for a lot of big companies doing consulting for companies like Gap — he’s got the business background.”

Both of Mr. Nenshi’s main competitors — Ms. Higgins, a former CTV 6 p.m. news anchor, and Mr. McIver, a longtime alderman — have cast themselves as fiscal conservatives, though Mr. Nenshi said “Ms. Higgins has no record and [Mr. McIver] is about as fiscally conservative as the Conservatives in Ottawa.”

Still, a recent poll shows that both Ms. Higgins and Mr. McIver glean much of their support from Progressive Conservatives. Mr. Nenshi’s supporters are more likely to have voted for the NDP or Liberals.

But while Mr. Nenshi is ­perceived as the most left-leaning of the top contenders, Prof. Bratt said the theatre-loving candidate is “not a prototypical leftist” and said it would be “tough to put him into a box.”

Mr. Nenshi’s platform speaks not only of environmental sustainability or public transportation, but also of attracting and retaining Calgary’s businesses by “cutting the red tape” at City Hall. He speaks about the need to “reduce the number of people living in poverty and ensure opportunity for all,” and also about reducing the tax burden on businesses after amalgamating two business taxes into one

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Cal...#ixzz12URL8XLJ

[SebC]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

It seems like Connelly endorses... himself
http://communities.canada.com/calgar...-the-race.aspx

Thanking this is not enough. I literally laughed out loud. And not the in Loubardias sense of literally.

Go Connelly, keep splitting votes with Ric!

[frinkprof]

Well it sounds like people will actually be heeding Connelly's advice. They will be taking back their city - from idiots like him who will no longer be on council.

[stevinder]

It was sooo easy to make fun of Joe's cowboy idioms and idiocy.