Hall Marks with Emma Reilly

Our mayor-elect as you've never seen him before

We're working on putting together a package on Bob Bratina, our new mayor-elect, for Saturday's paper. One of our photographers was combing through our archives and found some great pictures of our soon-to-be-mayor. With Bratina's permission,I've posted a few of them here.

These photos are promotional shots for Bratina's radio show from 1969. I asked him if he remembered the day they were taken, and he said no -- "but I remember the suit," he added.

Enjoy!

E-Day

Today's the big day! I'm super pumped to see who will be elected mayor tonight, and I hope you city hall watchers out there are too.

I just wanted to point you to our home page, where we'll have a live chat with minute-by-minute results starting at 8 p.m. We also have a whole team of reporters keeping track of the mayor's race, the ward results, and school boards, so check back with us throughout tonight and tomorrow. I'll also be updating my twitter throughout the night, so there will be no shortage of election info for you.

So go grab some popcorn, a cool beverage, and enjoy the ride!

Live to air

Hi folks - just wanted to let you know that pollster Nik Nanos and I are hosting a live chat on thespec.com as we speak! Come on over and ask your questions about the municipal election and the Spectator/Nanos poll.

Who's on first?

Almost every day, someone asks me who I think is going to win the election. And, almost every day, I answer honestly that I have no idea. The race is very tight and it's been hard to tell who exactly in the lead.

But, my city hall watcher friends, that's about to change.

Any minute now, we're expecting the results of an election poll to be delivered into our hot little hands. The Spec has commissioned a national polling company to take a pulse of who's in front of the mayor's race and what issues are important to Hamiltonians. We'll be running the mayoral results in tomorrow's paper (barring any unforseen circumstances) and will cover the polling issues next week.

In the meantime, who would you say is leading the mayor's race? And what do you think are the most important issues to Hamiltonians?

 

Check this out...

 

How many of these folks to you recognize?

Endorsements and local food

We're only three weeks away from going to the polls, people. How are you feeling about the campaign so far? Impressed? Nonplussed? Bored? Hopeful?

I was at a campaign event this morning with Mayor Fred at the Earth to Table bakery on Locke Street - a very cool, brand-new restaurant with lots of local and organic food. The mayor got a little hands-on for this announcement - he was kneading bread, making sandwiches, and grabbing bites of food in between sentences. (Apparently he's the main cook in his household, and according to his son, he makes a mean stir-fry).

One of the most interesting parts of his announcement (which was about promoting local food, especially for needy families and kids) was that it began with an endorsement from Councillor Brian McHattie. Though Larry Di Ianni was endorsed by Hamilton's two former police chiefs, no other councillors have officially thrown their support for a mayoral candidate. It can be risky for a councillor to endorse someone for mayor -- especially because they have to consider their relationship with other mayoral hopefuls if their chosen person doesn't win.

My question for you is whether this influences your vote. Do you care about endorsements? Do they change the way you see candidates?