Comes the new year and this city’s mayoral race will ratchet up with two months to go. We’ll see what all the fund-raising yields and what the candidate forums disclose.
To date, it’s been about positioning and timing. Who’s out of the gate first? Bob Buckhorn–with a firefighters’ union endorsement in the summer, the first yard signs, the first website and the first neighborhoods walked. Who’s out–who was rumored in–and was the incumbent’s favorite candidate? Jim Davis. Who’s in–who was long rumored in–and has his own statue? Dick Greco. Who’s in–who thinks big–but may have waited too long? Ed Turanchik. Who’s in–who has a high-profile political position–but gets easily overlooked? Tom Scott. And who’s in–who is a proven fund-raising force–and was first to qualify by petition? Rose Ferlita.
But of all the 2010, post-Dick Greco-announcement occurrences, two notably stand out. The much-noted, Tampa Police Benevolent Association’s endorsement and Greco’s “courtesy call” on Mayor Pam Iorio.
Greco received an impressive 62 percent of the PBA vote. But it begs context: only 222 of 975 eligible officers cast votes. That’s less than 23 percent. More importantly, were those motivated to vote reflective of any particular demographic?
And it was an astute move for Greco to pay that courtesy call on Iorio to thank her for “all she’s done” and talk city finances. Others will too, of course, but he was first. He’s the only one who has walked in her (sensible) mayoral shoes. Nobody else is her City Hall peer. If it had the look of Greco-Iorio-Greco, it was meant to.