The 2012 San Diego mayor’s race began like other love affairs – lots of hope and promise for the future. Then, the sparkle and shine of courtship faded quickly into the same old dull routine.

No more flowers. No more moonlight and love songs.

Seems I’m not the only one who noticed our romance is fading.

Even the candidates can’t muster the enthusiasm. Both Councilman Carl DeMaio and District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis skipped a second, high-profile debate last week and the fall out has been notable.

One Rostra blogger called the no-show candidates “disappointing” while a San Diego Union-Tribune columnist floated the sweat-inducing idea of forcing all the candidates to participate in at least one debate.

[I witnessed what came close … Read More

Let’s begin with praise. The online news folks at Voice of San Diego deserve big props for diving in head first with a great concept – a political festival centered around the first San Diego 2012 mayoral debate or as they called it Politifest 2011.

However, due to no filtering of candidates, it felt more freak show than what they dubbed a “Lincoln – Douglas” style county fair debate.

Though top-tier candidates, Rep. Bob Filner and Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, participated – they were not “the talk” of the debate.

The “It” kid of the event, Rob Harter, called himself “Girly Girly.”

He opened up with a diatribe about how men are evil, ruining the world with war and guns. Oh, did I happen to mention this event took place on the grounds of the old Naval Training Center, where sailors like my father, attended boot camp?

Yes, clearly the Lincoln candidate.

Meaning wacky retired teacher and magician Loch David… Read More

A debate’s raging in San Diego. A debate over debates.

It’s a curious thing. The moment San Diego mayoral candidate Councilman Carl DeMaio turned down a Voice of San Diego hosted candidates debate, among others already accepted by Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher and Congressman Bob Filner, suddenly he was the target of much speculation (District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis is also not expected to participate).

The result was what we media consultants lovingly call organic news. Suddenly, DeMaio’s name was everywhere – on social media, in headlines and churning in the poliwonk rumor mills. Then, the situation took an even stranger move – Fletcher and Filner sent DeMaio and Dumanis a letter asking them to join them in three upcoming scheduled debates.

In the letter, the pair wrote: “You have… Read More

Seems the young guns got it going on.

In just 25 days of the first reporting period for the 2012 San Diego mayor’s race, two young Republican candidates blew doors on the established competition with more than $300,000 cash on hand. Early predictors felt sure the mayoral primary would be a $1 million race. At this rate, we might be looking at $1.5 million.

Late yesterday, it was reported that Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher raised $320,000 between June 5 and June 30, with a $1,000 personal contribution. San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio tipped the scales at $274,000, which he matched dollar-for-dollar for a grand total of $545,000. By contract, current Mayor Jerry Sander’s candidate, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, raised $157,000, which included a $10,000 personal loan.

Accounting for… Read More