The Loss

MyCandidate lost by 281 votes. Rival trailed a distant third. That means Incumbent is Incumbent again.

In the 2003 election, MyCandidate lost by over 800 votes. She's made progress this time. I still say it's not her or that we didn't work hard enough. It's more that the Liberal stronghold in our ward is hard to shake. But MyCandidate sure made a good crack. And that the demography in our ward consists of older European immigrants who want to vote for an older European man. There are still people in our ward who have trouble accepting that an attractive, intelligent mother should hold office.

Nor are votes related to community issues in our ward. Prove: Incumbent's supporters said they were against the TTC St. Clair right of way. Incumbent ran hand in hand with Jane Pitfield. They supported each other and took on each other's colours for their signs. Pitfield said she would stop the TTC right of way on St. Clair from advancing if she got elected. Yet, the poll results I saw showed voters voted overwhelmingly for David Miller, and marginally for Incumbent. These older voters gave their vote to the men they are familiar with.

And then there is the low voter turnout.

I wouldn't put it past Incumbent to pay people to vote for him.

So he's is back in.

He won despite the Star calling him ineffective, the Globe saying he's the most dispensible politician on council and people would know that if he attended council meetings more often.

Next time, MyCandidate will win. The fact she's an unknown and has had so much support means people are unhappy with Incumbent. The demographics in our ward will have changed as more progressive thinking, younger families move in. We also need to give people a reason to come out to vote.

But for now, things stay the same.