We've read it all on the Web site BC Voice (and nowhere else, mind you). According to "BCVoice Insiders," Binghamton mayoral candidate Douglas Drazen is a backfiring Pontiac J2000, while incumbent Matt Ryan's Boxster is being challenged, side-by-side, by Republican Rich David's slick M5.
In fact, if you read BC Voice with any regularity, on a mind-numbing number of threads you've seen that Mr. Drazen has no shot. He needs to pull out. If he doesn't, David's destiny will be thwarted by a veering clunker and the local anti-Christ's Porsche will sail across the line, beating an opponent that, some will tell you, could have won this race, if not for that dog-gone rust-bucket J2000 blocking all things progressive.
It's all bunk.
Like anyone else who posts on that Web site, I'm allowed an opinion. The difference? I actually sign my name to my view, good or bad, and I try to back those opinions with facts. While I don't have hard-and-fast numbers to throw at you today, I can tell you this, with a fair degree of certainty: Just about all polling information you read about there? Contrived. And it's contrived by one camp or another to attempt to sway you away from a cause, or toward another.
In a word, it's what's "wrong" with polls. Too many times, instead of being used by camps to gauge how things are proceeding for their candidate, they're used to garner sway. Time-honored tradition, of course. And misleading as it gets.
Let's say you have one internal poll that tells its supporters that their candidate is way up. Well, certainly they want that information out there. A salvo like that could be demoralizing to a foe. But let's say that same candidate's volunteers aren't hearing good news in their phone conversations with voters. Their candidate is down and it's looking grim.
Hey, not to worry. People love a front-runner, right? They like to ride with a winner. No one loves the thought of spending a vote on someone who "just can't win" or who may "cost the election" for another candidate who might just be a tad more palatable than the final choice.
So the spin comes out sideways. Translation: A candidate's camp will report false information to create a better buzz.
If you think this doesn't happen you (a) have never worked on a political campaign, and/or (b) just joined us on our fair planet.
I don't particularly like the job that Matt Ryan's done as mayor, so I'm not going to vote for him (nor did I last time around). That fact, alone, won't likely move anyone away from supporting the man, which is why I began questioning him, and some in his administration, about things that simply ... look wrong.
I've gotten him to respond, in his own words, to some pretty pointed questions, and in doing so, he's gone emotionally off the hinge. When he did answer questions, he was either disingenuous, or, I felt, he wasn't telling me the truth. I base that on several contradictions ... again, in his own words.
His approach is so far to the left that it doesn't register on my "liberal-centrist-conservative" screen, and I'm surprised that so many fairly conservative local Dems (see: Joe Merrill as a primary example) would express support for him to continue in this job. That sort of thing makes me highly skeptical about the back-room deals and potential strong-arming I've heard about lately in the local Democratic hierarchy (ie, you support X candidate, or come the end of the year, you may just find yourself on a job hunt).
Rich David, meanwhile, is a fellow I like personally. He replaced me in the community relations coordinator role at City Hall when I became Deputy City Clerk, so I know him a little bit. I also dealt with him on issues while I served on City Council in 2005. We sometimes butted heads, but maintained what I believe was a mutual respect, even in the event of dissimilar opinions.
I view Rich David as more of a traditional pol who would have his strengths and downfalls, like anyone, but who was also indoctrinated in The School of Bucci ... which isn't a bad thing at all, in my estimation. It's a conservative route, socially and fiscally.
I wonder if tradition is what's needed right now, though. Could be. But we see the city's in dire need of someone standing on the brakes, then turning this thing in a completely different direction. Armed with his background, is Rich David going to be able to steer things off a worn, tired road? I don't know. If he's elected, I hope so. If elected, he'll have my support.
Although some who frequent the BC Voice political forums surmise I'm a Drazen operative, or that I'm working on his campaign, neither is true. I currently have a Doug Drazen sign in my lawn. I voted for him last time around, and I may be voting for Doug again.
Doug's never asked me to help with his campaign, and I have not. That said, all the blather and bluster on BC Voice about him being a clown or being a whackjob either comes from folks who haven't met him, have seen a clip of him poking sardonic fun at an issue, or who simply wouldn't vote for him in the first place, based on their political biases.
Drazen is quirky and eccentric (maybe why my wife busts my chops, saying it's part of the reason I agree with him so often). His comments on how he'd tackle issues within City Hall and citywide have been perceived by some as perhaps too conservative, bordering on radical. But what I like is that, as he puts it, there's no political machine behind him, and he'll sink or swim on his word, in the public eye.
Oh, yes. This was supposed to be about polls and their validity. Suffice to say, my sources are as solid as any you'll read on this site, and as of last week, there were three candidates running neck-and-neck (and neck). In fact, in one instance it was reported to me that, according to a Rich David pollster, that there appears to be a David-Drazen flip-flop at the front of the pack, with Matt Ryan right there, just behind them.
It really points up the importance of voters getting to the polls on election day, making the most informed decisions they can. Don't let poll misinformation factor into how you spend that one vote.
Take everything you read and hear about polls with a grain of salt. That includes what I say here.
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And now, for something completely different.
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