Rob Ford Out, Doug Ford In

[alcina]

First I have to say that, having lost several family members to cancer and having had my own scare, I feel very sorry that Rob Ford and his family are facing this period of unknown with the potential of a devastating prognosis. He's clearly not a healthy man.

But now I have to add -- Really? Doug Ford? Is the family that convinced of their Camelot fantasy that they feel another Ford can just waltz in and become mayor? I can only hope that at least some of the Ford remoras wise up to how cynical this move is. On the plus side, the fact that Doug lacks his brother's Chris Farley-esque lovable goof persona might put a few people off.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/rob-ford-pulls-out-of-mayoral-race-doug-ford-steps-in-1.2764485

[Saviolo]

1. So, my question now remains

... does Doug have the support that Rob had?

Will this further confuse voters on the right? It would be great if this did a real split on the right between Doug and John Tory, with a fair number of moderates drifting back over to the left to vote for Chow. Or... will this kill the Rob Ford sector of the vote and leave Tory the only viable candidate on the right, and Chow well behind? Tory vs. Ford was the only thing I was counting on to get Chow a better slice of the vote.

[alcina]

2. That's a really good question

And the analyses I'm reading are wondering the same thing. I'm really curious to see how the polling goes over the next couple of weeks, and if we start to hear more about Doug Ford's dark side. What a nightmare these guys are. Having endured the Bush-Cheney years in the US, I see the Ford brothers as a kind of high-school version of that. Ugh.