It was just about two months ago,
when then San Diego City Mayor Bob Filner was going to resign and dialogue about
an upcoming special mayoral election on the Democratic side was to put forward a
candidate that could beat either former San Diego City Councilmember Carl
DeMaio or San Diego City Councilmember Kevin Faulconer.
Former California State
Assemblymember Nathan Fletcher, who had run and failed in the last mayoral election,
was now being touted around town as the savior of the left by some state and
federal elected officials, as well as big Democratic donors as the only one that could win the
special mayoral election. He was the
one! This banter was to take him even over a true
tested Democrat elected with name id, fundraising ability, proven mayoral
leadership and solid Democratic credentials, California State Assemblymember
Toni Atkins. Remember, Assemblymember
Atkins steered the city the last time a mayor resigned. The theory regarding former Assemblymember
Fletcher was he had name identification, polls showed him ahead of “Dirty DeMaio” and
“No Name ID Kevin”, as well as he had brought in big fundraising numbers in his
last failed mayoral attempt and he was just swell on the stump. Those points were regardless of the facts that
former Assemblymember Fletcher had switched his party registration three times
in about a year and half, lost most of his support from the right which he was still
touting as him being able to be a consensus maker, while disavowing his previous held public policy
positions and voting record. Also, when he was truly tested in a heated campaign he crumbled or some would say never lived up to
the hype in the last mayoral primary. These
new boosters of former Assemblymember Fletcher billed him as the savior on
the left. Funny, just in the 2012
mayoral election, he was billed as the true savior on the right from “Dirty
DeMaio”.
The latest polls are coming out,
after we have gotten into the thick of a real campaign. Voters have been hearing the positives, the
negatives, the endorsements of elected officials and organizations. Big
money has been spent and we can expect some more money still to come into play. Under the pressure of a campaign, former
Assemblymember Fletcher has shown yet again his well-developed image and the
storyline of the campaign he and others touted does not stand-up. There are various public and even internal polls, including his own I understand
that all show former Assemblymember Fletcher dropping now below Councilmember Faulconer. In fact, they all have him neck and neck with San Diego City
Councilmember David Alvarez. Those in the Fletcher campaign want to point
fingers outside of their own campaign and cast blame onto others, but a true
assessment is on his campaign and their supportive independent expenditures. Nothing is a sure bet going into a campaign,
but you need to make the best of what you have at hand. The tails of endorsements, money, name identification
and cross party appeal does not seem to be materializing for him.
The election is not over yet and polls
are not always right at forecasting the election, but it seems like what the storyline
of this knight riding a stallion in shining armor to rescue all of us on the left is looking
more like after all the horn blowing, drummers and fanfare, he is just maybe a pimply guy on a colt with a spray-on tan missing the target and falling off his horse. Only time will tell, the election results this election night!
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