Cannon over Mitchell for mayor: Was it those ads?

So, what was the deciding factor in Patrick Cannon's walloping of James "Smuggie" Mitchell in Tuesday's Democratic primary for Charlotte mayor? Better name recognition, Cannon's 20-year record, solid grassroots' appeal, a slap at the "establishment" ties associated with Mitchell? All were likely factors. There was also the fact that Cannon came off as more confident and polished than Mitchell.

But Mitchell may also have misfired with what Cannon and others deemed Mitchell's "negative" campaigning. The blitz of mailed flyers which Mitchell said only was designed to show the contrast in their positions showed Cannon with various sour looks on his face and tied Mitchell to former Mayor Anthony Foxx's agenda. The continuous flow of such ads turned some people off. And then there was the final blitz of robocalls from Mitchell, including one looped one over and over again from Mitchell's wife, a former astronaut. It had the ring of desperation to some.

But the race was probably decided before much of that even occurred. Cannon led in early voting returns both in absentee and one-stop voting by the same margins that he won the overall vote. By the way, both Edwin Peacock, who won the Republican mayoral contest in short order Tuesday and Cannon were in our top four in our inaugural Mayoral Power Rankings in April.

In elections elsewhere....

It seems New Yorkers aren't so forgiving of sexual impropriety as folks are in other places - places like, uh, South Carolina.

S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford, who forgot his state duties to have a tryst with his Argentine mistress while on the state's work clock, made a rebound from disgrace to Congress last year. But on Tuesday night, former N.Y. Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who resigned that job after discovery of his trysts with prostitutes, couldn't get elected to a local office as city comptroller.

Well, actually, he was seeking the Democratic nomination, but that was a virtual lock for whoever the Democratic nominee turned out to be. That will now be Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. Stringer didn't have the deep pockets of Spitzer - Spitzer outspent Stringer $7 million to under $4 million - nor could he match Spitzer's financial expertise. As N.Y. attorney general, Spitzer was known as the "Sheriff of Wall Street" for his aggressive and successful prosecution of financial firms.

But it looks like Spitzer couldn't escape the scandal in the mind of many undecided voters, and nagging doubts about his integrity were only reinforced by his decision not to fully disclose his tax returns. Stringer released five years of his returns.

On Tuesday, Stringer handily beat Spitzer.

And speaking of handily getting beaten, the weird ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner also got a sound whipping voters. He only got five percent of the vote, and it's kind of surprising he got that many after discovery in the middle of his campaign that he had continued the lewd sexting behavior that led to his resignation from Congress in 2011.

But there's still room for forgiveness, it seems, even in the Big Apple, and even while the one seeking forgiveness is spewing curse words and flipping people off with his middle finger as Weiner did the day before and in the hours after his defeat. Go figure.