Mayoral candidate George Smitherman speaks to the media ouside the TTC headquarters on Yonge Street in Toronto, Ont. May 5/2010. Mr. Smitherman challenged Rob Ford to a one-on-one radio debate.Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail
George Smitherman has issued the challenge.
Rob Ford has accepted, if reluctantly.
Only one question remains: Will a Toronto talk-radio station go ahead with a controversial one-on-one debate, a move that could help redefine the mayor's race as a two-man contest?
Newstalk 1010 is weighing the consequences and conducting an online poll before deciding whether to host the head-to-head contest Mr. Smitherman suggested on air Thursday.
"If George Smitherman said, 'I want to have a pillow fight with Rob Ford,' it doesn't necessarily mean we'd do it," said Mike Bendixen, the brand manager at Newstalk 1010. "I feel very strongly about not swaying this election too much. It's still early."
The most recent polls show Mr. Smitherman and Mr. Ford in a virtual tie for first place.
If the front-runners were to face off alone, they could cut through the incoherence that has defined three televised debates so far, the Smitherman campaign argues.
As for the other three major contenders, they have dozens of debates under their belts and on their fall calendars. And Toronto's marathon race is nothing like its federal or provincial equivalents, where a candidate would be deemed irrelevant if excluded from the one or two televised leaders' debates.
"There's lots of opportunity for all the candidates [in the Toronto race]to get out what they have to say," said Stefan Baranski, spokesman for Mr. Smitherman.
Still, the Toronto debates, especially those broadcast on radio or TV, confer legitimacy.
Sarah Thomson, a businesswoman and magazine publisher with no political experience, is considered a serious candidate in part because she's appeared in so many debates. By contrast, Rocco Achampong, a young lawyer and former president of the University of Toronto Students' Union, has struggled for attention because he's been shut out of all but a handful of debates.
Ms. Thomson said she would understand if she was barred from a debate on the eve of voting day, but not now. "So many people watch these debates," she said. "You can't cut it off too soon."
Election day is still three months away. A whopping 40 per cent of voters are undecided, according to a Globe and Mail/CTV/CP24 poll published in mid-June.
If a two-person debate had been held at this juncture in 2003 - the last time there was an open mayor's race - it would have featured Barbara Hall and John Nunziata, who finished with 9 per cent and 5 per cent of the votes, respectively.
That's part of the reason Mr. Smitherman's proposal has been received coolly by other candidates and broadcasters.
"We're not buying into a situation where candidates declare who is in the lead," said Joan Melanson, executive producer of CBC Radio Toronto, which has invited all five major candidates to a debate Oct. 5. "It leads to a forum that excludes and limits debate and choice. Especially this early in the campaign."
CP24 also has no plans to change the five-candidate formula for its three remaining debates.
"Smitherman is getting desperate," said John Laschinger, campaign manager for deputy mayor Joe Pantalone. "This is a Hail Mary."
Candidate Rocco Rossi said Mr. Smitherman "wants to race against a rival he feels he can ridicule and caricature easily."
Mr. Laschinger and Mr. Rossi know better than most how seismically the field can shift before election day.
In 2003, Mr. Laschinger ran David Miller's campaign and Mr. Rossi ran John Tory's. Their candidates were way behind in the summer and wound up duking it out for the win in November.
For his part, Mr. Ford is uncomfortable with excluding his other rivals. But he said he would accept Mr. Smitherman's invitation anyway.
"I'll show up anywhere," Mr. Ford said. "I'll go in his [Mr. Smitherman's]backyard, but you have to understand my position. As a mayor, I want to encompass everybody."