Ottawa Sun
Published: Thursday, July 1, 2010 Real campaign starts with O'Brien Welcome to the 2010 mayor's race. This once-assumed sleepy coronation for Jim Watson on Oct. 25 is now a grind 'em down, duke it out, horse race to be the 59th or re-elected 58th mayor of Ottawa. Yours truly will admit that I was caught off guard with Larry O'Brien's announcement that he will stand as a candidate for mayor this fall; I didn't think he had the fire in his belly for another four years. (Memo to readers: Don't ask me for the winning Lotto Max numbers or stock tips). In my defence, many folks who claim to know Larry believed that after the successful Lansdowne vote on Monday night he would simply call it the proverbial day on his term as mayor. He could say, with credibility, that he substantively moved the yardsticks forward on Lansdowne, a new mass transit plan, the in-process convention centre and other issues like an embryonic culture transformation at City Hall and the green bin program. But as I can personally attest, life with Larry O'Brien is never straightforward and keeping 'em guessing is part and parcel of the O'Brien package. Yesterday's announcement was testament to this observation. Moreover, the fighter in our mayor -- a quality that I personally admire and can relate to -- has thrown down the gauntlet to Jim Watson, Alex Cullen and the other registered candidates: If you want his job, you are going to have to earn it, one vote at a time, day by day and ward by ward. In this respect, democracy is better served. It will be a real campaign and as any partisan will tell you, despite what the polls say today, campaigns matter, period! However, Larry's initial campaign remarks yesterday, which can be paraphrased as judge me (and this council) on our record and what we have accomplished, are actually aligned with the questions posed by the Watson campaign in his pre-emptive news release which buzzed on our BlackBerrys and iPhones mere minutes before the mayor's news conference. In other words, both candidates basically agree on the ballot question -- the record and achievements of the current mayor and council in positioning our city for the future. ABOUT LEADERSHIP And this nicely leads to the self-evident supplementary question: Who is best positioned to lead, and what style of leadership, do you want for the next four years? And with due respect to Coun. Cullen, it's time to start running a real campaign with a real website, real tour s t rategy , and real and concrete policy positions if you want to remain as a major contender for the mayor's chair. Cullen is probably the most articulate, well-briefed and passionate member -- despite his left of centre political bent -- of council; it's time he stepped up and showed this side of his candidacy. To his credit, Jim Watson -- even as the perceived frontrunner -- has run his campaign from Day 1 assuming that Larry O'Brien would be an opponent. With 115 days to go, his strategy likely remains the same with an identifiable target in his sights. The one caveat to this invigorated mayor's race is that it could distract from local council races. Voters must remember to pay equal attention to their ward races for we are electing a mayor and 23 other people to make decisions on our behalf. |