The deadline is tomorrow at 2 pm. I’ve heard suggestions that Rob should withdraw and his older brother/campaign manager would run.
Given that Rob has twice the charisma of Doug, I think there is not a better way to ensure that John Tory runs away with it.
So Marion Barry hasn’t thrown his hat into the ring, eh? EH?
Northern Piper has given some good analyses, but the short answer is that the city has been plagued over the years by a series of far-left lunatic mayors who engaged in reckless spending and various mismanaged and ill-advised programs. Ford’s predecessor David Miller was an idealistic dreamer; that he was widely referred to as Comrade Miller should tell you a lot. Ford ran for mayor at a time when a lot of people were thoroughly fed up with free-spending far-left ideologues, and his hard-nosed business approach and promise to cut spending and keep taxes in line had tremendous appeal, especially in the suburbs – so much so that many were willing to overlook the growing scandals surrounding him and his obvious personal problems.
This tumor business has really thrown a monkey wrench into the election. Last I heard he was transferred from a small-ish hospital near his home to a major one downtown, and a biopsy is being done but they won’t know for some time whether it’s malignant nor, I presume, much else about his prognosis. Some are thinking of his brother Doug, a member of Council who is currently running Ford’s campaign, as an alternative if Ford has to drop out.
The most prominent alternative candidates are John Tory, a conservative who seems to lose every election he ever runs in, and Olivia Chow, a prominent lefty who may evoke altogether too many memories of Comrade Miller.
Quite right - I mis-read one of the articles.
The most recent article I saw said that they won’t have the biopsy results for a week, and they’re keeping him in at Mt. Sinai, on pain-killers.
They also did a CT scan of his chest and an ultra-sound.
That doesn’t sound good. Does that mean they think it may have spread to his chest?
Really Not All That Bright, you might find this article interesting; nice summary of the dynamics of the race:
http://m.citynews.ca/2014/09/11/what-happens-if-rob-ford-bows-out-of-the-toronto-election/
I suspect they’re just preemptively looking for spread on the chance the mass turns out to be malignant. Otherwise, they will have lost time when the biopsy results are back.
Now, the mass itself may well be related to the tumour removed from his appendix some time ago. If so, it certainly suggests the original tumour was malignant. That said, judging by the location, it may be an unusual tumour called an appendiceal carcinoid. If so, while it can behave in a malignant manner, long-term survival is certainly possible. OTOH, the appendix can also harbour more typical colon cancers which, if spread, have a poor prognosis.
One last point. Jackmanni will know this better but I believe the interpretation of biopsy specimens containing appendix tumours can be challenging - at least insofar as deciding what the behaviour of the tumour will be. It isn’t necessarily a slam dunk to conclude that it’s a typical cancer with typical cancer behaviour and prognosis.
I did, thank you. I was talking to some of my coworkers this morning and it occurred to all of us that everyone in our building (in Florida) knows who the [crack smoking] mayor of Toronto is. I’m the only one who knows who the Prime Minister of Canada is and I had to think long and hard about it (my first instinct is always to say Jean Chretien.)
If John Tory loses this election, he will truly cement his reputation as unelectable.
Right now, it is his to lose, if one believes the polls. Last poll has Tory at 40%, Ford at 28%, and Chow at 21%.
Still a while to go before the election, though.
Thanks, Karl Gauss - very interesting. I hope it turns out well for him.
That is, Rob Ford has pulled out of the mayoral race, and his brother Doug Ford will run instead. Rob Ford will run for Councillor in Ward 2; to make room for this, his nephew Mike Ford has left that race.
And, in a shuffling of candidates:
Rob Ford drops out of the mayor race.
His brother, Councillor Doug Ford, files nomination papers to run for mayor.
Mike Ford, who was standing for election as councillor in Rob Ford’s old seat in Etobicoke, has withdrawn from the race.
Rob Ford has filed nomination papers to stand for election in the Etobicoke seat, in place of his nephew.
Mike?.. How many of these fuckers are there?
This is Toronto, right? City of what, 3 million?
Jesus… There are less relatives on the town council in Buttfuck Arkansas than there are Fords in Toronto, Ontario.
The whole world knew about “the crack smoking mayor of Toronto”, though they mostly didn’t know the half of it. We all wish him well as a fellow human being but the reality is that as mayor he was a reprehensible boor who was an embarrassment to Toronto and to the whole country. Every time you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did. The best outcome here is that he recovers and decides to drop out of public life altogether.
And on your last point, the actual Prime Minister of Canada is of course Jean Poutine. 
Will be very interesting to see how Doug Ford’s entry changes the polls. It could be bad news for Tory, who always seems to have the worst luck, because Doug could be perceived as representing his brother’s style of fiscal conservatism without all the crack-smoking alcoholic baggage.
It will be interesting.
My take is that part of Rob Ford’s appeal was exactly that he drove his enemies (meaning, most of us ) nuts with his reprehensible antics, and that this actually made his followers like him the more - that he was, in effect, trolling us (albeit not wholly conciously): as in ‘look at those effite downtown elitists clutching their pearls and fainting as our “bad boy from the 'burbs” Rob gets wasted and stirs up shit’. Doug lacks that bizzare form of charisma.
I truly have no idea if he will poll better or worse than his brother.
I suspect it will become evident in the next few days. Rob Ford’s statement of withdrawal from the race very emphatically tried to position his brother as his proxy. Chow has already (in an ongoing press conference) appeared to try to undermine that. Chow and Tory will probably both try to characterize Doug as an unknown quantity. Doug is supposed to be giving a statement at 7 PM tonight in which I’m sure that “carrying on his brother’s great work” will be the keynote.
Unbelievable. Even when disabled in a hospital bed, Ford is still a soap opera!
For those interested, Toronto Star columnist Rosie diManno opines on the latest. I think she’s got it right, particularly in two respects:
Rob Ford’s message about his brother as proxy:
“I am Doug. Doug is me.”
And the probable future dynamics of the race:
No, we don’t.
Not so sure I am not a Ford fan, but I do think depending what happens with Rob’s health that you might see a large sympathy vote. Doug will tow the same party line as Rob. Doug will beat out Chow.( I could have inserted a terrible joke but won’t) I say it will be close between Tory and Ford.
Cite?
Until you reach the 1.2 billion Ford threw away on the scarborough subway, you are simply wrong.
RNATB, you may also be interested in this article by Christie Blatchford, a national columnist centred in Toronto:
“There is a remarkable amount if goodwill out there for Rob Ford”