Victory Lap! The Third Man Won!

There are times when I would prefer to be proven wrong, but not this time.  Your favourite freelance writer in city affairs said this on May 15th about the possibility of Larry DiIanni entering the race:

...it could be a good opportunity for a wild card candidate to step into the scene and pull votes away from the both of them.

Votes were certainly pulled from the incumbent Eisenberger, who finished 3rd with 26% of the vote, while Larry DiIanni was 2nd with 28%.  Walking away with 37% of the vote is not the strongest mandate, but considering the quality of the candidates in the race, it will do.  So how did it happen?

Bratina had support from the rural areas along with the elder Hamiltonians.  He got support from disaffected supporters from both the Eisenberger and DiIanni camps.  From that point, he sailed away.

So what does this mean for the stadium?  The word is out that Confederation Park is coming back to the table.  We will have to see if that's the case.

So what can expect to happen as we head to the new year?  All that I hope is that Merulla and Bratina do not end up in a duelling e-mail game as they have recently done twice.  And will things get any better at City Hall?  That's too soon to say.  That would depend on the behaviour before the new session begins.

Did the right guys get in?  Perhaps.  Both Eisenberger and DiIanni were damaged goods and so the votes came as expected.  Unfortunately, no mayoralty challenger could get past Michael Baldassaro who got the fourth most votes.  While Edward Graydon has no regrets with the campaign he ran, bumps, bruises and all, perhaps Mr. Butani could let us know of his reaction to the results.

And now the question that really needed to be asked:  Was Eisenberger's endorsement from the Spec the kiss of death?  Not necessarily.  The early polling indicated intent and people had their minds made up before the vote anyway.

So in the end, things went as expected, but only where the mayoralty was concerned.  Challengers for the Ward Councillor seats had a tough time making any head way.  It did become the incumbents advatage where there were many horses in the race, especially Ward 3 and Ward 6, where Bernie Morelli and Tom Jackson won in their repective wards.  But things didn't work out for both Juan Pablo Bustamante and Bernard Josipovic, who couldn't even split their votes with Maria Pearson.  Not really a surprise, considering the ward they lived in.  The Fruitland vote just didn't come through for the two challengers.

So all in all, some laughed, some cried and hopefully we all won...