Well, as I thought might happen, Nelson Peters has sold out by settling for a compromise county smoking ban. It would be REAL sweet justice if he lost the mayoral primary despite his backdown on the smoking ban. Alas, the odds of this happening are about a million to one but as Jim Carey said in Dumb & Dumber - "so you're telling me there's a chance!"
Well I suppose you can't win if don't play! Make no mistake, Matt Kelty ran an incredible campaign. For those of you taking notes - THAT is how you run a people-powered grassroots campaign. I'm not endorsing the guy by any means, but you can't help but be impressed by a campaign that had ZERO support from the establishment but took it to them nonetheless. It had a sort of Lamont vs Lieberman feel to it didn't it? A victory for the people is a victory for democracy regardless of party.
The general election is going to be a dogfight. The voters of Fort Wayne will have a distinct choice in who will become mayor and lead this city into the future. Matt Kelty has proven to be a formidable campaigner but the Democratic party is energized and ready to seize the day. If Kelty thinks he's already won the mayor's office then he's got another thing coming. Tom Henry will not make the mistakes Peters' campaign did. He will be methodical, professional and victorious.
Let the games begin..
5 comments:
I agree with your entire post except for the result, I think Kelty will win in November.
I do not know Henry; however, I do not think he can put together a campaign organization that can match what Kelty has in place at this point. Kelty has a lot of momentum and a lot of passion.
I think that Matt Kelty will work significantly harder then Henry and I would bet that Matt will knock on a lot more doors then Henry.
The recent annexations make Fort Wayne a Republican town demographically.
Maybe we should have a friendly bet...
Mike Sylvester
Mike,
I think you'll be surprised at the organization of the Democratic party come general election time.
I have no doubts that Henry will match Kelty's effort. I also think Henry has a good chance to peel away a significant number of Peters supporters.
I'm going to wait on the bet - let's talk in late August, early September...
Jeff:
We shall talk about it down the road.
I think the people (You are not one of them) who are discounting Kelty are making a large mistake.
Matt Kelty ran the strongest local campaign I have ever seen.
Mike Sylvester
"I have no doubts that Henry will match Kelty's effort. I also think Henry has a good chance to peel away a significant number of Peters supporters."
**raises hand**
Mike - I must echo Jeff's sentiments. You clearly have no idea how energized the local Democratic party has become in recent years. I saw it firsthand last year, as a newcomer, and I was greatly moved by the energy and involvement that I witnessed.
Kevin Knuth is active and engaging; he's a WONDERFUL chair, but. . .he also has the boots on the ground, the voices on the phone banks, the passion of the people involved locally.
For the party that truly lives the "from many, one" description, the party of a thousand voices struggling to come together under one big common flag, comes a well-oiled local grass-roots machine. Sit back and watch. . .
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