Wednesday, September 11, 2013

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.   

13 comments:

Skippy said...

Know what else does not sell, The Progressive Agenda, two Dems recalled in Colorado replaced by the GOP.. So why don't you sniveling liberals take up a recall election here since you seem to think the GOP was put in charge to support your agenda and good luck to you..

Wiley Coyote said...

Vote AGAINST big government spending by voting for Peacock (since Cannon wants former Mayor Fixxit's streetcar named Undesireable) and also vote NO ON CMS BONDS in November!

Anonymous said...

Skippy, NC does not allow for recall elections.

Unknown said...

Fannie, Mark Sanford is so yesterday's news.
If you're going to talk about having inappropriate relationships, please be sure to mention Bill Cinton (remember him?), or even worse, the good Rev Jesse Jackson, preacher of God's word and father to convicted felon, Jesse Jr.

kantstanzya said...

The Democrats voted for the person they felt would do the best job of spending other people's money.

And Cannon won the absentee ballots? Wow. And here I thought Democrats didn't know how to vote absentee because we've been told the GOP was going to disenfranchise all the liberal students by making them vote in the towns they actually claimed residency in and there was just no way they could figure out how to vote absentee. Go figure.

And here we go again trying to compare what Mark Sanford did with what Spitzer and Weiner did. And Weiner was forgiven. Remember Weiner was leading in the polls until he was caught texting AGAIN...after he had resigned, apologized and said he was "cured". Even liberals have a limit I guess.

And Weiner may have even overcome that if he had the personality of Bill Clinton. Neither Spitzer nor Weiner are particularly liked by the party insiders. Fortunately there were other liberals the Dems could chose from. Sanford won because he was running against a liberal. Weiner would probably still have won against a conservative. And Spitzer spent $7 MILLION to win the NYC comptrollers job? Not much corruption associated with that job is there!

Only the Observer would call Anthony Weiner "weird". Alvin Greene is weird. Anthony Weiner is a sick mental case.

In follow up Spitzer's wife Silda, from Concord NC, will stick by him because he is rich. Weiner's wife Huma will soon be showing him the door now seeing him as a drag anchor to her tagging along with Hillary Clinton. One pathological sociopath associated with the Hillary for President campaign is all she can manage at a time. How many extra staffers would she need to handle the Weiner "bimbo eruptions"?

bobcat99 said...

Why should Sanford's victory be news? In SC, the majority would vote for a broomstick if it ran as a Republican.

Garth Vader said...

Cannon was most helped by The Observer's endorsement. Of Mitchell.

Cornelia said...

I think Darth Vader is on to something. And, has it ever occurred to the CO that some people may not have been such fans of Foxxy or his agenda that they would flock to the polls to elect his lieutenant? Many may not have enjoyed being so blatantly used by the petulant, spoiled little Foxxy to get himself to Washington. Many may not have wanted his street car or appreciated the tricks he deployed to try to get it funded, including raiding the airport's parking revenue and the proposed sales tax hike that would have raised nearly a billion dollars, all with the help of Mr. Mitchell.
So, if Mitchell was the establishment candidate, was

Cornelia said...

If Mitchell was the establisment's candidate, please tell me who else the establishment supports so that I can vote against them. With an "establishment" like that, no wonder our jobs picture is so miserable. Must be a case of folks who inherited papa's money but got none of papa's brains.

Cornelia said...

Maybe Foxx's city manager will decide he needs to spend more time with friends and family in the DC area now that he knows the agenda he was hired to carry out does not resonate so well with the electorate. Take the airport he couldn't keep Foxx from losing, even though he has already cost Charlotte a bundle in legal fees, judge shopping, etc., just to postpone the inevitable and to look like a vain fool in the process.

Mark Caplan said...

In all fairness, Cannon was against the streetcar before he was for it.

halman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
halman said...

I have seen some new strategy also, they have made some android mobile apps to promote the candidates. I mean, it is like having a sort of feedback.