Kevin Faulconer is the new mayor of San Diego, becoming the only Republican mayor among the nation’s top ten cities. He replaces Bob Filner, the headlock happy, cheek licking, grope a dope who was urged out of office by a conga line of female gropees.
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Occur to anyone that same ppl who backed serial licker #BobFilner backed @AlvarezSD & that ppl didn’t trust their judgement? #SDMayor
Other leaders of the GOP are taking notes on how Faulconer wooed Democrats and Independents and beat a far lefty in a majority Democrat town despite being outspent and outgunned by outside unionistas. The SEIU, public employee unions and outside unions gave David Alvarez $4.5 million in cash and untold amounts of in-kind donations. By election day, Faulconer had been outspent by $1 million.
It will come down to ground game, of course. How did Faulconer garner such a commanding early lead–13%– in the mail in balloting? How did he get people to the polls?
Despite a fairly dignified campaign, talk of the I-8 divide was always present, albeit sotto voce. North of I-8 represents white affluence and suburbia while south represents the generally more economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. David Alvarez, who hails from Barrio Logan (south of I-8), constantly referred to helping “our neighborhoods” while Faulconer who hails from the Pt. Loma area (also south of I-8) spent more time on big picture San Diego economic growth. Seminar callers were heard on local talk radio pretending to be Republicans and saying how wonderful unions were and the alt weeklies wrote their screeds about cotton candy Republican ‘scandals’ timed for publication right before the election. It was all quite a show. All the actors played their parts.
So how did Faulconer do it? A large part of the answer lies in the e-braceleted ankle of Filner. He was a dud and people were sick of do-over elections. Voter fatigue could have set in. There were three elections in less than two years. One which elected Filner and two others to replace him.
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(F)ilner (A)ssaulting (U)ncontrolled (L)adies (C)reated (O)pportunity (N)ew (E)lection (R)epublican #SDMAYOR #ACROSTIC
And the Democrat brand didn’t seem to have the same sparkle as before. An endorsement by President Obama did not move the needle for Alvarez. In fact, Republicans were high fiving at the desperate Hail Mary, as evidenced by former GOP chief Ron Nehring tweets on election night.
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The national scribes noted the air ball endorsement,
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Through the night the giddiness of the apparent winners was met by plastic smiles from the losers
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@toniatkins takes the stage to a roar from the audience at @AlvarezSD election party. #sdmayor pic.twitter.com/bVZicpT1ub
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A BIG thank you to everyone for coming out to volunteer today! We appreciate your help. #sdmayor #davidalvarez
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Win or lose, we’re proud of all the @CAYoungDems who worked or volunteered for @AlvarezSD. #SDMayor
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And the lefties got cranky,
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Faulconer ran as a moderate. Republicans will get upset with him from time to time, but, compared to the alternative, San Diego has chosen the right man to lead the city.