Ward 32 - Bussin is in trouble

Mary-Margaret McMahon is in a position to unseat incumbent Sandra Bussin.

It looks like Mary-Margaret McMahon has a real chance to unseat Sandra Bussin in the Beaches.

Up until now, Bussin has been protected by vote splitting, specifically between McMahon and Bruce Baker.

Well this morning Baker announced he was backing McMahon. On Wednesday, Neil Sinclair announced he too was dropping out to back McMahon.

This could do it. Earlier in the week, the Star was told that a poll in the ward still showed Bussin in the lead, provided Baker stayed in the race.

Things just got very interesting for the Speaker.

Ford was Levy's biggest campaign contributor

The Sun's Sue-Ann Levy and front-runner Rob Ford Do-Si-Do

The Sun's Sue-Ann Levy has been championing front-runner Rob Ford throughout the race. Another of her favourite topics is the "sweetheart" deal the city awarded the Boardwalk Pub (owned by the Foulidis family) in the Eastern Beaches. She has suspiciously pointed to the fact that the Foulidis family donated to local councillor Sandra Bussin's past campaigns.

Someone who is admittedly not a fan of Levy's passed this on asking: is she being a bit hypocritical?

Turns out, Ford was the largest contributor to Levy's failed provincial campaign in 2009. The Etobicoke councillor gave the maximum $1000. Councillor Doug Holyday and his wife contributed $250 each. The three were among 31 donors who gave more than $100.

Read anything into it? We don't.

Rossi in 3rd place? So says Forum poll

A new poll paid for by a little-known Toronto businessman suggests Rocco Rossi's campaign has moved into 3rd place.

Forum Research, which said the poll was paid for by Victor Pappalardo, conducted a phone poll of 400 Toronto residents on Monday and Tuesday, just after Rossi announced a major campaign shuffle and announced he thinks voters should have the right to fire Toronto's mayor mid-term.

The poll suggests Rossi now holds 15% of the decided vote. Just last Saturday,a Toronto Star-Angus Reid poll put Rossi in last place of the major candidates with just 5 per cent.

When asked who they planned to support, or are leaning towards, 34% said Rob Ford (up from 26% in June), 22% said George Smitherman (down from 29%), 15% selected Rossi (up from 10%), Sarah Thomson came in with 14% (down from 17%), and Joe Pantalone earned 11% (slightly down from 12%).

The margin of error is plus or minus 4.9%, 19 times out of 20.

The timing of the poll is certainly interesting. Those questioned were also asked to respond to Rossi's call for Voter Recall legislation. In total, 73% said they were in favour.

Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella, who announced he had joined Rossi's campaign Monday, tweeted earlier today: "Surprising poll coming out: Rossi has the big mo."

Later blogging: "Ladies and gents, we have a race."

Here is the news release announcing the results.

Did the City of Toronto get a sense of humour???

The city's YouTube channel has published a cheeky clip from Toronto Waste, which asks residents to pony up their old electronics.

It's funny. Dare I say, I laughed out loud. And then sent a link to my friends. In fact, I may even send them some old electronics.

Remembering the good times courtesy Newstalk 1010

Mayor David Miller's last council meeting got off to a dry start this morning. The first hour or so was bland housekeeping issues. Then no one stepped forward to discuss a report from the integrity commissioner on Rob Ford. And other than that, council is hopefully (but doubtfully) wrapping up debate on "one city, one bylaw," which would harmonize the way city hall evaluates and manages zoning across the 416.

So kudos to Newstalk 1010 for reminding us all of the more exciting times.

So what does it mean for the race?

The Sun's Joe Warmington has written a column accompanied by the headline: Nothing sticks to Teflon Ford.

"He may have lied about a few indiscretions but when it comes to his claims of going into City Hall as a relentless, common sense tax chopper, people seem to believe Ford will end the fat-cat spending party."

Warmington goes on to cite a Sun online poll, which asked readers whether they cared or not about the recent drug charge/did-he-lie-about-it? revelation. The unscientific but telling results: 84% didn't care.

The Sun typically has one of the more conservative readerships and has given favourable coverage to the Etobicoke candidate (although not today), but judging by the chatter on Twitter, Facebook, the coffee shop I stopped at en route to work today and the Star's own comment section - I think it is entirely possible this poll is more than a blip.

Heck, if the National Post is right, Ford is Toronto's Barack Obama. 

Some have predicted that between the immigration controversy and Thursday's scandal, Ford's campaign may finally have hit a bump it can't plow threw. But with Ford's clear "stop the gravy train" message and a bona fide track record for helping residents navigate city hall bureaucracy, I'm not so sure.  

Councillor candidate makes sweet introduction

When you're running against an incumbent you need to get creative to attract media attention.

So kudos to you candidate Justin Di Ciano for your delicious cookie hello. Well played sir. Now what are you going to do for Etobicoke-Lakeshore?

New poll: Rob Ford way out in front.

Rob Ford has officially broken away from the pack in the mayor's race. A just released poll by Pollstra Research, which recently surveyed 432 Toronto residents, shows the Etobicoke councillor at 37.6%.

George Smitherman came in second at 28.7%

Joe Pantalone earned 15.5% of the decided vote.

Sarah Thomson was 10.3%

Rocco Rossi earned 7.9%

About a third of those polled said they were undecided.

Although it is a small sample size (the margin of error is just under 4%), the numbers seem to mirror what internal candidate polls have been saying for weeks: Rob Ford is the man to beat.

The Pollstra data also showed that Ford holds the vast majority (65.7) of voters who identify as federally Conservative. Liberal party support split between Ford (36.8) and Smitherman (34.2). Pantalone earned 36% of NDP support, with Smitherman pulling 32% and, perhaps surprisingly, Ford earned 20%.

Pollstra Research is relatively unknown in the industry. Its website, garnered more than a few curious looks yesterday from both media and political types. They have most notably done internal polling for Giorgio Mammoliti during his bid for the mayor's job. Several industry insiders have questioned the margin of error used. In a late Thursday interview, president Josh Justice said he absolutely stands by his numbers.

Mayor David Miller will not seek re-election - again

Last year, mayor David Miller announced he would not seek re-election.

But as we've seen before, campaign buzz can be suddenly resurrected if the gossip gets loud enough. Those in the know tipped the media that Miller had been doing polling recently.

City hall watchers got to play the "what if" game for three whole days. This morning, Miller told reporters he was definitely, for sure, for sure, 100% not running.

The. End.

The Toronto Week in Review

The brother and father of slain teenager Aqsa Parvez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, the Toronto Eaton Centre will get a $120 million facelift, and as the city braces itself for the G20 - which is going to cause all kinds of problems, problems, problems, problems - the US issues a travel advisory for Toronto-bound Americans.

On the mayoral front, man-to-beat Rob Ford - Toronto's Sarah Palin? - once again finds himself at the centre of controversy.