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

[Bunk]

Herald officially endorses McIver (big surprise there)

http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion...megadrop_story

However, Robert Remington editorial board member seems to disagree - calls Nenshi "the true face of change"

http://www.calgaryherald.com/columni...548/story.html

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by stevinder

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

You have shown great restraint over the last week or so.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Herald officially endorses McIver (big surprise there)

http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion...megadrop_story

However, Robert Remington editorial board member seems to disagree - calls Nenshi "the true face of change"

http://www.calgaryherald.com/columni...548/story.html

Should news outlets be allowed to officially endorse a single candidate (it is posted by calgary herald instead of some editor)? Sure you can have stories that run pro candidate-x but to me it seems wrong for any news outlet that has substantial influence on voter outcome to do something like this. Though to their credit they did run it just as an opinion piece.

[Table 5]

I don't mind the practice, I'd rather they tell me who they endorse outright instead of trying to convince with me with selective journalism disguised as news.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Herald officially endorses McIver (big surprise there)

I think comments like that do your candidate a disservice.

Either he has legitimate ideas with every possibility of being accepted, or he's a fringe candidate riding social media fads. I think it's the former but if you really think he's too 'out-there' for mainstream Calgary thats not a great pre-election message.

The herald's endorsement made some decent arguments, even

It's telling that while running his Better Calgary campaign, Nenshi endorsed McIver during the last election and has since adopted many of McIver's policies and ideas.

They also spend a lot of time legitmizing Nenshi.

[Bigtime]

A reminder that Nenshi's "TV Town Hall" is on CityTV today at 4pm.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by Bend it like Bourgeois

I think comments like that do your candidate a disservice.

Either he has legitimate ideas with every possibility of being accepted, or he's a fringe candidate riding social media fads. I think it's the former but if you really think he's too 'out-there' for mainstream Calgary thats not a great pre-election message.

The herald's endorsement made some decent arguments, even

They also spend a lot of time legitmizing Nenshi.

I agree they do make totally valid arguments, and do treat other candidates fairly. Even one of the editorial board members uses his column today to countervail the offical editorial board position. What I mean by 'big surprise there' is that the Herald has a history of officially backing establishment candidates. I'm not just being flippant - I should rephrase to 'not really a surprise'. They are very conservative in that sense of the term - it's their predisposition and therefore easily predictable even months back.

[Shazam]

Just so everyone knows:

Nenshi writes a column for the Calgary Herald!!!

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

Should news outlets be allowed to officially endorse a single candidate (it is posted by calgary herald instead of some editor)? Sure you can have stories that run pro candidate-x but to me it seems wrong for any news outlet that has substantial influence on voter outcome to do something like this. Though to their credit they did run it just as an opinion piece.

Why shouldn't it be allowed? The only mechanism by which such a practice could be "wrong" is the market. If you don't like it when your newspaper endorses a candidate, you have the power not to buy that newspaper any more.

But really, I don't think there's anything unethical about it: newspapers have endorsed candidates since time immemorial. They will continue to do so until there are no more newspapers (which may be sooner than you think... but that's another topic).

[HotHotHeat]

Anyone notice the Herald took down their 'who should be the next mayor?' poll?

Nenshi had about 37%, higgins 30%, McIver 25%.

[pepper24]

In today's Calgary Herald p. A15:
Here’s how 3,463 readers responded to: Who would make the best mayor for Calgary? Craig Burrows, 1%. Joe Connelly, 1%. Barb Higgins, 19%. Jon Lord, 1%. Ric McIver, 20%. Naheed Nenshi, 53%. Other, 5%.

http://digital.calgaryherald.com/epaper/showlink.aspx?bookmarkid=YDBU697WVDG4&issue=1032.. .

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I don't mind the practice, I'd rather they tell me who they endorse outright instead of trying to convince with me with selective journalism disguised as news.

True this seems much more preferable, and looking at the herald they have maintained a reasonable degree of impartiality so far... which is more than I can say for something like the Sun. Case in point todays election coverage section.

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

True this seems much more preferable, and looking at the herald they have maintained a reasonable degree of impartiality so far... which is more than I can say for something like the Sun. Case in point todays election coverage section.

As someone who doesn't read that rag, care to elaborate on what the Sun has been doing?

[stevinder]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

You have shown great restraint over the last week or so.

You have no idea.

My small contribution is now listed on Nenshi contributors website.

[welshboy2008]

A reminder that Nenshi's "TV Town Hall" is on CityTV today at 4pm

[algernon]

OK. Anyone want to call the order of the results?

McIver (FFS!)
Nenshi
Higgins
Connelley
Lord
Burrows
Stewart
Erskin
Hawkesworth
Fech
Liu
Hunter
Devine
Johnston
Knight

Is how I see it shaking out.
I don't see Nenshi overcoming McIver, and possibly BJ Higgins will suck some votes away from Nawhead as well.

I'm undecided right now, as I'm not sure that Nenshi won't sell Enmax. I think it's better for our city to control our power (and make profit to boot?), but maybe I've missed a promise he's made recently to hold on to it.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by algernon

I don't see Nenshi overcoming McIver, and possibly BJ Higgins will suck some votes away from Nawhead as well.

I'm not sure if/ how many times it has been brought up in this thread, but I wish there was a way we could vote, and then the top 2 candidates get to have a new vote so people can pick between those two. Most of the people I know are trying to decide between Nenshi and McIver; and I could see these two splitting the vote and having Barb come right up the middle.

Isn't that how we ended up with our current Premier?

[algernon]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I'm not sure if/ how many times it has been brought up in this thread, but I wish there was a way we could vote, and then the top 2 candidates get to have a new vote so people can pick between those two. Most of the people I know are trying to decide between Nenshi and McIver; and I could see these two splitting the vote and having Barb come right up the middle.

Isn't that how we ended up with our current Premier?

I could see that view, but McIver has political experience, while Nenshi and Higgins are not from directly political backgrounds. I think Nenshi has a damn good chance, what with coming out of the pack and cresting at the right time.

[ben voyonsdonc]

My call:

Nenshi
McIver
Higgins
Connelly
Lord
Hawkesworth
Stewart
Burrows
Erskine
Fech
Hunter
Devine
Johnston
Knight
Liu

[pepper24]

Originally Posted by welshboy2008

A reminder that Nenshi's "TV Town Hall" is on CityTV today at 4pm

Starting now........