Today's poll comes to you courtesy of Forum Research. The company went into the field Thursday night, so this is the first poll without Rocco Rossi. It shows Rob Ford in the lead with 44 per cent followed by George Smitherman at 38 per cent and Joe Pantalone at 16 per cent. Lorne Bozinoff, the President of Forum Research, told CP24 that there is lots of time and anything can still happen. He said his company would probably do one more poll. These are likely decided voters and shows a bigger spread than the Ipsos-Reid poll earlier this week.
There's another on line poll floating around but it was taken from October 4 to 8, when Rossi was still in the race. So it is too old to merit discussion. One pollster characterized it as a "voodoo poll."
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The three campaigns still standing are now turning their attention to getting out the vote. Is Toronto engaged in this election? Well, one early indication may be in the turn out for the weekday advance polls.
CTV Toronto's Naomi Parness got some interesting numbers on Thursday. This year 16,135 people voted in the advance polls. Looking back at 2006, the turnout was only 8,367 and back in 2003, when there wasn't an incumbent running, 10,899 voted early. So the early, very early indication shows that turnout might be higher this year. There are another two days of advance poll voting, with one poll open in each ward this Saturday and Sunday between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Both the Ford and Smitherman campaigns sent out appeals to supporters to get involved.
Here's a bit of the Ford campaign's pitch:
We have just over a week left till E-Day on Monday, October 25th. This weekend is crucial for our campaign. We need as many volunteers as possible to help us get Rob Ford supporters out to vote at the advanced polls. We will be meeting at both of our Campaign Offices on Saturday and Sunday and breaking off into teams to go to wards throughout the city. Our goal is to encourage voters to skip the long lines and hassle of election day by casting their ballot at the advance poll in their ward.
And this from the Smitherman team:
This campaign will be won on the ground, through volunteers on the telephones, by going door-to-door, putting up signs, and talking to our neighbours.
Go to activatetoronto.ca right now and sign up for a phone or door canvass. Order a lawn sign, help on Election Day and forward this message right now to your friends to get them involved.
In this election every vote will count. We have the team that can win and the candidate who can make a great Mayor. Let's get it done, together!
So far there is no similar appeal from the Pantalone campaign. Pantalone's fiscal statement on Thursday was overshadowed by Rossi's decision to withdraw and all the coverage about Pantalone since then has included speculation about if he will stay in the race. Today, communications director Mike Smith, told me Pantalone is staying in. "There's money in the bank, there are 10 days left, there are a lot of scary similarities between the other guys, and there are a lot of people across the city who don't trust them. It's not over."
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On Thursday, both Smitherman and Ford sent out releases touting their latest endorsements. Smitherman landed Etobicoke Liberal MP Borys Wrzenewkyj and John Parker -- councillor in Don Valley West (Ward 26) -- endorsed Ford. Parker is in a tough fight against challenger Mohamed Dhanani. In 2006, Parker beat Dhanani by just over 200 votes.
