[LINK] "Voters widely favour Tory for mayor, poll shows"

[rfmcdonald]

Oh Jesus.

John Tory leads the pack of undeclared candidates for mayor of Toronto by a wide margin, according to a new poll by Angus Reid Strategies.

Of decided voters, 46 per cent said they would vote for Mr. Tory, former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, who came a close second to David Miller in the 2003 mayoral race. Ontario Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman polled a distant second, with 21 per cent of decided voters saying they would pick him.

In third place at 14 per cent was Councillor Adam Giambrone, a close ally of Mr. Miller and chairman of the Toronto Transit Commission, who, like Mr. Tory and Mr. Smitherman, is also contemplating running.

"There are three very viable candidates at this stage ... but after the lessons we learned in 2003, frankly it is anyone's game," says Jodi Shanoff, vice-president of public affairs for Angus Reid Strategies. At the start of the 2003 race, former Toronto mayor Barbara Hall held a commanding lead, with support from 50 per cent of voters, according to one poll at the time. Yet on election day, she finished a distant third to Mr. Miller, who began the race as a dark-horse contender.

Given that 47 per cent of the new poll are undecided about their choice for mayor in 2010, Ms. Shanoff warned, "these numbers will move significantly in the coming months."

Among other prospective candidates, former Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray received 8 per cent support from those surveyed, compared with 3 per cent for Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, 2 per cent for Councillor Michael Thompson and 1 per cent for Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, the only one so far to throw his hat into the ring.

It looks like I was terribly, terribly premature when I blogged this March that John Tory's political career was over. The perpetual loser might win something after all.