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rfmcdonaldCBC suggests that even though David Soknacki, a candidate in the Toronto mayoral race who left yesterday, after never polling above single-digit percentages, he helped raise the tone of the debate.
David Soknacki, who bowed out of the Toronto mayoral race yesterday, had an influence on the campaign that went well above what his low polling numbers would suggest, a city hall watcher told Metro Morning on Wednesday.
[. . .]
Torontoist editor-in-chief Hamutal Dotan said Soknacki's deep policy knowledge forced his opponents to address issues they might otherwise be able to ignore.
"He was very, very good for the race," she told host Matt Galloway. "He brought a certain kind of heft and experience that increased the tenor of the debate … because he was so policy-oriented."
She said Soknacki's ideas about economic development and ways to curtail the police budget added breadth to the campaign, even though his polling numbers remained stuck at single digits. In announcing he was pulling out, the former budget chief his support was not rising fast enough to make a difference ahead of the Oct. 27 vote.
Dotan said David Miller was able to move from single-digit support to the mayor's chair back in 2003 because his policy prowess was matched by a charisma that Soknacki lacks.
