Say It Ain't So Joe - But At Least Say Sumptin'

A couple of weeks ago there was a local pollster/political know-it-all on the Steve-in-the-Morning radio show on CJBK and he was adamantly pooh-poohing the notion that Federal liberal member Joe Fontana was going to run for Mayor of London in this fall's municipal elections. "Not a chance. He would have made his announcement months ago if he was even considering taking a run at it."

But this particular "expert" has been notoriously wrong in every single reading about public opinion and the political landscape that he has ever made. Take a look at his track record, he's like the Ed Dames of pollsters. Still waiting to make a hit that's right on the money. Or even close for that matter.

So, of course, the London Free Press realizes that if this guy says it ain't gonna happen, then there surely must be something to those rumors that Joe was actually thinking about going for the Mayor's job. Even tho that would mean that as a long-time member of Parliament who happens to be a current member of the Opposition, he would have to give up a job where he has absolutely nothing to do. To say nothing of the big fat pension he has waiting for him when he and the rest of his party get the final boot when Harper calls the next federal election in a few months.

But Joe is a bit of a media hog and after a day of not returning phone calls, to the Free Press, he let it be known that he is "90 per-cent sure" he was going to toss his hat into the ring. But first he wanted to talk it over with his Liberal colleagues during their caucus meeting which was held in Vancouver last week.

These would be the same colleagues who rolled over and went back to sleep when he indicated he was thinking of running for the party leadership a few months ago. (Check this blog's Archives for the April 20th entry, "Yet Another Blow to the Federal Liberals" for this story.)

But the caucus meeting was over late last week. According to the Freeps, Joe was back in town last night. And still no announcement. Is he playing coy with the media? Or is he truly incapable of making a decision? OR - God forbid, is the above-mentioned local pollster actually right for a change?

Well, I, too can look into a crystal ball and make things up with the best of them. And here's what's happening. The Liberal caucus meeting was over by last Thursday. Joe still hadn't made up his mind, so he headed north towards Whistler in search of snow, hoping for a snowstorm that he could walk about in and mention when he announced this long-awaited decision. Couldn't find either - a snowstorm nor a decision.

And we must keep in mind, for Joe, this is a big decision. Even he knows that he can't coast to victory on his laurels as a member of the most-hated federal government since Brian Mulrooney's Conservatives.

However, the really big question for Joe in this mayor's race would be how can he (a white male of Italian heritage,) possibly defeat the much-beloved current Mayor, the former Anne-Marie Decicco, a white female of Italian heritage? Now that the Mayor has recently married, and is now officially, Anne-Marie Decicco-Best, the question that has been keeping Joe awake for the past few nights is this - does this mean that I will now be able to get the support of London's Italian single male voters?

Joe - in a word, 'No.'