Mayoral Debate

[dougskiles]

I don't like the early voting concept.  I like the ritual of going to the polls on election day.  Early voting greatly diminishes any sense of civic pride that I get from the experience.

So, I will be voting for Audrey, but not until March 22nd.

Mike Hogan is leading the overall polls, however, remember that Nat Glover was the largest vote getter during the first election 8 years ago.  When it got down to only 2 candidates, Peyton was able to pick up the easy win by getting most of the Carlucci and Weinstein voters.  That could be the case this time too, except it would be the liberal and moderate voters joining together to overtake the previous leading candidate.  The big question to me is how many Mullaney voters would go for Hogan vs. Moran (assuming Moran beats out Mullaney for #2).  The other question is whether or not the Brown and Lee voters would even bother going to the polls with their candidates out of the race.

[fsujax]

I feel the same way, I will be voting the day of, for Audrey of course!

[Jimmy]

I'm used to working in the polls on election day.  During state and national elections I volunteer as an election protection attorney and spend those long days keeping an eye out for voting irregularities.

Guess that's trained me to get my voting out of the way as soon as possible.  (Which, I've never liked voting absentee.  I do enjoy sliding the ballot into the machine.)

[hillary supporter]

Hogan was very short on words. Which is scary, he gives no details. I don't understand how people do not have issues with that. That is his strategy, sit there quietly and let Mullaney and Moran duke it out. I actually thought Alvin Brown did a good job.

I  too thought Alvin did well, but Hogans strategy was like fsu said. The less the better, and somewhat beneficial as Moran and Mullaney tussled. But at least he felt the pressure that he had to be present to show face. Perhaps the higher visibility of Tom Wills and channel 4(?). I cant believe many, if any, viewers of public TV could be persuaded to support Hogan.
I do believe he's the front runner as T-U stated.
Yes, if turnout is low, Hogan will landslide, and Moran will hurt.

[mfc]

Run off. Hogan Moran. Mullaney losing ground. He burned the bridge with the chamber of commerce by announcing the Moran endorsement before they did, in spite of agreeing to let the chamber announce the endorsement on their planned schedule. Then he ran hard to the right to get the tea party and fell short there. Then
Lost the times union endorsement to Moran. Now I just saw the first negative ad. By who, Rick mullaney. "check it out". 

[I-10east]

Steve Irvine looks like someone on the video game 'Red Dead Redemption'. He's got that "Lone Wolf, West of the Pecos" look going. LOL

[Fallen Buckeye]

I think people are seriously misinterpreting what Mullaney said.

In response to an accusation Moran made, Mullaney said:
"I've known Audrey Moran for over 20 years. In the last debate, I stated that I'm godfather to her son. I was her husband's campaign manager. But what we just witnessed was somebody who was willing to say anything to win....something that's completely and totally false. She knows it's false. Her campaign knows it's false, and it's really unfortunate. That's the politics of the past. I hope in the rest of this discuss we can discuss some issues, but that was a sad moment. Anything to win. That's not right."

Moran spun it to sound like he was attacking her family, but what I'm hearing is him establishing that he has a long, friendly relationship with her and her family, and he is disappointed to hear her spread those claims. I think what you're hearing is that Moran is a better speaker and politician than Mullaney, but as far as substance of the platforms goes I prefer Mullaney. He really said very little about her family, and nothing derogatory about them in the least. He was questioning HER character AFTER she questioned his character.

Also, did it seem like they threw some soft pitches to Alvin Brown (e.g.; Tell us about your experience in such and such a program) and then threw some real zingers at the other candidates?

[konstantconsumer]

It's less about what he said and more about the way he does it.  Mullaney has, time and time again, talked about being her son's godfather, or being long time friends with her, and then mischaracterize what Moran is saying.  It's basically a way for him to sound nice and then turn her words around.  After hearing him say that at forum and forum and event after event, I think Moran finally had enough.

[Timkin]

Go Audrey!

[Doctor_K]

Audrey was interviewed on WOKV's morning news program this morning.  I love just listening to her talk - she's on her game and just hit another grand slam out of the park in the interview.

I hope to sweet baby jesus on high that she pulls this off.

[BridgeTroll]

If turnout stays low, it's bad news for Audrey.  This is the week when everyone should be piling up their friends, family, and coworkers into the car and hauling them to an early voting location to cast a ballot for Audrey. 

I voted early yesterday at the Supervisor of Elections office... It was a ghost town in there.  Is there any way of getting the numbers of ballots cast so far?

[Doctor_K]

New outlets are reporting that early and absentee voting turnout is at about 5%. 

Whatever that actually equates to in numbers... ?

Either way, it's dismal.

[JeffreyS]

This could turn out to be Tea Party vs. Metrojacksonville.com.  We have to show up.

[copperfiend]

Mayor Mike Hogan?

{cringes}

[Jimmy]

Mayor Mike Hogan?

{cringes}

Can anyone whistle the theme to the Andy Griffith Show?  That'll be us.