4th place Thompson considers throwing support to last-place Rossi or Captain eHealth - Ford's support firmest of all candidates - this confirms Pantalone as the candidate of the left

Sarah Thompson is considering backing out and endorsing another candidate, possibly Rocco Rossi or George Smitherman, according to reports today.

Evidently she has given up on her own candidacy and appears to be working with al-Starzeera on its "let's get behind Captain eHealth" campaign.

In an email to al-Starzeera The Star, she said she has been in discussions with “all teams to build consensus and work collaboratively”

Polls suggest her endorsement may not be worth much.

When asked if their support was “firm”, or if “it is possible that you might change your mind before Oct. 25?,” the answer was “firm” from 66 per cent of those supporting Ford, who is dominating the race with a simple message of spending cuts and improved customer service.

The “firm” response came from only 39 per cent of Smitherman and Rossi fans, and 38 per cent of Pantalone supporters. Voters backing Thomson were the most fickle, with 26 per cent saying they won’t budge — meaning almost three-quarters could move.

“Ford’s support, how sticky it is, was the most surprising number to me in this poll,” Shanoff said. “People aren’t just flirting with that option because of what’s happening at city hall. His message is sticking.”

UPDATE: text of the actual email:

 

Hi David,

I have been in discussions with all teams to build consensus and work collaboratively. After 8 months of working together with Rob, day in and day out, we have all seen the real Rob Ford and we all understand what a huge crisis Toronto would be in if Rob Ford were to become Mayor.

I have had a solid 10% support across the city. Smitherman has been coming down since he started and Joe hasn't been able to change his support.

I have not made any decision to step down. I know I have a solid 10% and a passionate tenacious team -- we don't have the money to do big advertising campaigns -- but word of mouth and passion have got us this far. We are working, as everyone else is, to see if we can garner the support that Smitherman can't seem to attract.

The next two weeks will determine if one of us can rise up or not.

Best,


Sarah

This tells us a couple of things.
 
1) Thompson is in all-out denial if she thinks her support is "firm" at 10%. If she remained in the election, her supporters could easily give up on this no-hoper and move to a better candidate.
 
2) Saying that her debates against Ford and the others constitiute "8 months of working together with Rob, day in and day out,"  confirms that Thompson's ditzy and delusional.

George F. Will on Israel's Netanyahu: "The anti-Obama"

From George Will's op-ed in The Washington Post:

Two photographs adorn the office of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Together they illuminate a portentous fact: No two leaders of democracies are less alike -- in life experiences, temperaments and political philosophies -- than Netanyahu, the former commando and fierce nationalist, and Barack Obama, the former professor and post-nationalist.

One photograph is of Theodor Herzl, born 150 years ago. Dismayed by the eruption of anti-Semitism in France during the Dreyfus Affair at the end of the 19th century, Herzl became Zionism's founding father. Long before the Holocaust, he concluded that Jews could find safety only in a national homeland.

The other photograph is of Winston Churchill, who considered himself "one of the authors" of Britain's embrace of Zionism. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 stated: "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." Beginning in 1923, Britain would govern Palestine under a League of Nations mandate.

Netanyahu, his focus firmly on Iran, honors Churchill because he did not flinch from facts about gathering storms. Obama returned to the British Embassy in Washington the bust of Churchill that was in the Oval Office when he got there.

Read the full column here.