The Globe and Mail holds its editorial nose this morning and endorses George Smitherman for mayor.
The Globe says its preferred candidate would have been the departed Rocco Rossi and so it concludes its long editorial saying, "The electors of Toronto should guardedly opt for George Smitherman." Makes me think of that old saying "With friends like that, who needs enemies?"
The polls over the last week all have around 18 per cent of likely voters as "undecided." The last three days of this tight campaign will be about convincing those undecided voters and getting organized to get the vote out.
On Monday night in Calgary voters were energized by their choices for mayor and 54 per cent showed up at the polls - that was up from 19 per cent just six years ago. That remarkable turnout became the focus of The National's pundit panel last night. I can't remember the last time city politics, Calgary city politics at that, took over from dissecting federal politics.
The energy is very different here in Toronto. Will voters drag themselves out to vote if they don't like their options and are voting strategically or for their second choice like the Globe's editorial writer? And those undecided voters - will they decide to stay home?
One radio station this morning opened its phone lines to undecided voters and some of them said they might stay home. Another factor will be the weather. Right now the prediction for Monday is for a cool, rainy day. Those unenthusiastic voters aren't likely to want to put up their umbrellas to make a detour on the way home or stand out in the rain waiting to get into a polling station.
That leads to the critical "get out the vote" efforts by the three campaigns. The Rob Ford camp says it has more than 2,000 volunteers ready to get its vote out. This weekend Smitherman and Joe Pantalone will also be focused on making sure its organizations are ready to make sure their supporters make that sloshy walk to their polling station.
This morning George Smitherman got another former Toronto mayor to endorse his candidacy for mayor. David Crombie agreed to work with Smitherman if he becomes mayor. Smitherman wants schools in Toronto to become community hubs and Crombie would be tasked to make it happen.
Crombie says the best way to get better services to people most cheaply is to use schools. Smitherman is the first candidate for mayor Crombie has endorsed since he was mayor. Former mayors John Sewell and Art Eggleton have also announced their support for Smitherman.
Smitherman is lining up more endorsements for the weekend and is hoping that a vigorous last weekend will give him momentum going into Monday and get enough of those undecideds out to vote to put him over the top.
Pantalone explained his idea to expand Toronto's 311 call-in system to make it more interactive to give Torontonians new ways to connect with city hall. Later in the day Pantalone will campaign in Scarborough and do a series of media interviews.
At 11 a.m. this morning the Ford campaign was still discussing its strategy for the day and asked that I call back later.
