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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Nenshi was completely invisible in today's Herald recap (1st page, City section). It was all about Higgins actually standing for something and Hawksworth/McIver. I'm not sure if that's a good sign for you Nenshi supporters or if it means he's still not getting across to other groups (Though a single article is really poor)
A strong higgins vote helps Nenshi. If its a 2 horse race between No and N^2, N^2 will lose. He has a much better chance imo in a 3 horse race where he can draft the front 2 then come up the middle - remember - rubbins racin.
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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.
Ocscar Fech's lines (these were said no less than 20 times each)
"Can you believe it?"
"Its so simple"
"That's why they kicked me out"
We joked afterwards about how Fech should get his own twitter feed, then CBS can turn it into a sitcom called "What The Fech?"
Honestly though, talked to Fech for a good 10 minutes afterwards. Sure, he's a conspiracy theorist, but the point is he makes you think. He knows he's being funny because he thinks people should laugh, but at the end of the day he just wants people to think about what he's saying because he's seen corruption vividly for so long.
First candidate I talked to on the night was Hawkesworth. As the new guy at CalgaryPolitics (I would've said CP, but that just gets confusing), they sent me in to talk to him and that did not go well at all. When asked about the mudslinging and smearing he said "What's smearing? What's mudslinging?" He refused to look me in the eye too. I talked to him about Enmax's debt, I told him I hadn't formed an opinion on Enmax yet because I actually research to form an opinion, but I had the statistics. Instead of answering me or even looking me in the eye, his student cronie chimes in and says "Enmax being in debt means they're spending money". Nice one.
Had an excellent chat with Burrows, he's way too late to the party but he has some great ideas. The Smart card idea IS a good one if done properly, and he's coming up with some great plans. It's unfortunate that he won't be on city council, he'd make a fine alderman. Was looking forward to getting a beer with him at the den after, prior to the evacuation.
Also got introduced to McIver. I have to say, having never talked to him before, I was actually impressed about some things. I have a huge bull detector, it's one of my only skills, and he honestly does seem to want to do the job. He doesn't say no just to say no, he says no because he wants to look into things further. As a facts guy, I at least can respect that. Do I think he'd make a good mayor? Probably not, no. But he's a good foil to have as an alderman.
Attempted to talk to Nenshi, and as we were about to chat he was informed he had 90 seconds to get to the back room. So I told him I'd catch him later, and he in fact asked us to walk with him all the way up to the door. Didn't get to ask him the tough questions I wanted to, but I'll save them for our next meeting. We walked with him after the event for a while and he seems like an honest, genuine man.
All in all it was a lot of fun. I have about 20 pages of notes to go through to consolidate, but it was by far an excellent forum.
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I find it interesting how nearly all candidates seem to be treating the issue of the SW ring road as if it were as simple as they or the City pulling the trigger on something. The Ring Road is inherently more complex than that since it is a provincial project (both managed and funded), and any further dealings with the Tsuu T'ina has to involve the feds as well. That isn't to say the City doesn't have a role. They do, but ultimately the Province is calling most of the shots on this one. It's not really comparable to most other projects on the radar like, say, Crowchild Trail upgrades, SE LRT, airport tunnel, etc.
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I find it interesting how nearly all candidates seem to be treating the issue of the SW ring road as if it were as simple as they or the City pulling the trigger on something. The Ring Road is inherently more complex than that since it is a provincial project (both managed and funded), and any further dealings with the Tsuu T'ina has to involve the feds as well. That isn't to say the City doesn't have a role. They do, but ultimately the Province is calling most of the shots on this one. It's not really comparable to most other projects on the radar like, say, Crowchild Trail upgrades, SE LRT, airport tunnel, etc.
Add that to the whole EMS platform, and it sounds like Barb should be running for MLA!
All forward to Facebook pages created by Hawkesworth????
I'm really puzzled by this. Hawkesworth is engaging in a despicable smear campaign against Nenshi, and I can't figure out why. He can't win this election--he's polling at less than 3%. And Nenshi isn't even the frontrunner, so.... what does Hawkesworth have to gain by dragging this campaign into the mud? It's really bizarre.
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Whoever is running Hawkesworth's campaign should be ashamed of themselves. It's one thing to go against the grain with your positions on issues, but it's quite another to use the tactics they are. They are basically lying about the cost of the tunnel, misrepresenting what others have said, using smear tactics that everyone can see through, and then not backing down when they are called out on it and/or shown the facts.
It's despicable really and has tarnished Bob's reputation.
All forward to Facebook pages created by Hawkesworth????
There is also Know McIver. The worst part is, Bob knows what he's doing and exactly why he's doing it. It was clear cut across his face and with his body language as soon as I asked him. The man is losing respect, and fast.
All forward to Facebook pages created by Hawkesworth????
It's a sad way to end a career. I was checking out his know Nenshi page the other day and none of the videos posted back what Hawkesworth claims.
The new ones are even worse. Cutting essential services is a 20 clip of Nenshi essentially saying that all city agencies should find ways to reduce costs.
There is also Know McIver. The worst part is, Bob knows what he's doing and exactly why he's doing it. It was clear cut across his face and with his body language as soon as I asked him. The man is losing respect, and fast.
Rumor is that Bob has hired some "big guns" from Vancouver to help with his campaign. If you to the facebook pages, you'll see the same three people have liked each page. They're the supposed hired guns from BC who have started this smear campaign. It's pretty embarrassing. Couple with that and the way their new Twitter accounts have clogged up what was a decent conversation on #yycvote, he's losing a lot respect quickly.
Rumor is that Bob has hired some "big guns" from Vancouver to help with his campaign. If you to the facebook pages, you'll see the same three people have liked each page. They're the supposed hired guns from BC who have started this smear campaign. It's pretty embarrassing. Couple with that and the way their new Twitter accounts have clogged up what was a decent conversation on #yycvote, he's losing a lot respect quickly.
Yeah, it's not even a rumor. It's definitely been confirmed. I forget his last name, but I know his first name is Neil...it's just terrible.
A strong higgins vote helps Nenshi. If its a 2 horse race between No and N^2, N^2 will lose. He has a much better chance imo in a 3 horse race where he can draft the front 2 then come up the middle - remember - rubbins racin.
I disagree with you. Naheed and Barb are essentially fighting for the anti-McIver votes. Of course you don't want Barb to drop too far so that it gives McIver the air of inevitability but Barb needs to continue her descent and Nenshi needs to pick her supporters off.
Here is, IMO, the scenario that Nenshi needs in order to win:
- Barb needs to drop 10-15 percent in the polls and needs to bleed that support towards Nenshi
- McIver needs to bleed some support...at least 2-3 percent each to both Burrows and Stewart.
- Nenshi needs to have the progressive vote coalesce around him...ie Hehr's and Hawkesworth's support needs to move towards him en masse.
- Nenshi's base of support needs to turn out and needs to turn out at a much higher percentage than anyone else. I believe that this will certainly be the case as Nenshi's supporters seem more engaged than Higgins' or McIver's supporters.
- IMO, Nenshi can beat McIver in a 2.5 man/woman race...it would be tough to win if Higgins completely crashes and burns as she'll send some big money supporters to McIver. He can't win in a three person race because he simply can't get enough votes from the right places to be able to do it.
