Municipal Election Strategy

How to beat Miller

By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN

To: Stephen LeDrew

From: Lorrie Goldstein

Re: Your entry into the Toronto mayor's race.

Dear Stephen: Good luck. Trust me, you'll need it. In order to help you stay sane leading up to the Nov. 13 vote, I have come up with four important campaign rules. Forget them at your peril.

Rule #1: IGNORE THE POLLS. According to two polls completed just before you entered the race last week, it's either too close to call between Mayor David Miller and Coun. Jane Pitfield (Ipsos Reid) or Miller is so far ahead he's poised to win it in a walk (Strategic Counsel).

Who's right? Who's wrong? Who knows? Who cares? Ignore the polls.

Rule #2: IGNORE THE PUNDITS. Listening to the pundits will drive you crazy.

At the Star, columnist Jim Coyle has written off Pitfield so many times that even he, to say nothing of his readers, must be getting pretty bored by now.

On July 11, Coyle wrote "Complacency benefits mayor", in which he dismissed Pitfield's campaign as "an underwhelming thing", followed on Sept. 2 by "The day Jane Pitfield lost the race," which is pretty much self-explanatory, followed on Sept. 12 by "Miller's no city mascot but he's sure to win again," (ditto) followed on Sept. 28 by "With senators like this, who needs enemies?" in which Coyle blasted Sen. Jerry Grafstein for trying to resurrect "the dead parrot that is the mayoral campaign of Jane Pitfield." So Coyle's point, and he does have one, is that Miller's already won.

Meanwhile, John Barber at the Globe has been killing entire forests explaining why Pitfield can't win, typified by his Sept. 23 effort: "You give a dope enough rope and guess what?" Guess who's the "dope," according to Barber? (Hint: Not Miller.)

It's the same at the "alternative" weeklies. At Eye, Dale Duncan wrote Sept. 7 that "Jane Pitfield has proven no match for mayor David Miller". On Sept. 14, Edward Keenan wrote Pitfield has "resorted to begging the media not to discount her chances just yet."

Meanwhile, NOW's Mike Smith wrote Sept. 21 that while Miller and Pitfield are both "well-to-do blondes," one of them, (Miller) loves Toronto and the other (guess who?) hates it.

So as you can see, Stephen, this is pretty fearless, "alternative" stuff compared to what you're finding in the "mainstream" press like the Globe and Star, eh?

Anyway, don't read the pundits because if they've already decided Pitfield can't beat Miller, imagine what they're going to say about you, a former president of the federal Liberal party who went through a personal bankruptcy and has never run for council.

Rule #3: DEFINE YOUR OPPONENT. And I know how. Two months ago, Miller's campaign put out a fundraising letter warning supporters that "powerful interests" were seeking a candidate for the mayor's race.

Okay, let's see now. Miller's chief fundraiser is Tory bagman Ralph Lean. His chief strategist is Tory backroom boy John Laschinger. His communications gurus are Liberal flacks Peter Donolo, who used to work for Jean Chretien, and Patrick Gossage, who used to work for Pierre Trudeau.

The rest of Miller's team reads like a who's who of the establishment.

So I say call a press conference and announce you've discovered which candidate "powerful interests" are backing in the mayor's race: David Miller.

Rule #4: ADOPT A CLEVER SLOGAN. One of Miller's in the 2003 election was that he had "extraordinary hair." Hey, you think I could make this stuff up?

I figure you can go with "Stephen LeDrew: Extraordinary eyebrows." There you have it, Stephen. And hey, no need to thank me.