If overnight results from SooToday.com's unscientific poll are any indication, John Rowswell may have re-captured the lead in Sault Ste. Marie's mayoral race.
When we asked our readers during the weeks of September 18 and October 8 who they would vote for if an election were held at those times, decisive majorities indicated they favoured Patti Jennings.
However, Rowswell appeared to be gaining ground between those two earlier polls.
Immediately following last night's mayoral debate, we asked a different question: "I watched the mayoral debate on Monday night and I consider the winner to be:"
And early results hint that Rowswell may have caught and even surpassed Jenning's early lead.
Through the night, the two candidates ran neck-and-neck in our polling, with Rowswell taking the lead more often than Jennings.
Peter Vaudry and Gary Bedryk have so far failed to capture the imagination of voters, all three polls suggest.
SooToday.com's polls capture a wide cross-section of local voters. They are unscientific, among other reasons, because the sample is not randomly selected and includes many people who are not eligible to vote in Sault Ste. Marie.
The overnight results are consistent with anecdotal evidence from SooToday.com readers who have repeatedly told us in recent days that they've (often reluctantly) returned to the Rowswell camp after considering the alternatives.
To view results from all three polls, please click on the following links:
September 18 October 8 Our current poll
Later this week, SooToday.com will conduct another poll using the original question: "If an election were held today, my choice for mayor would be:"
What happened last night
In electoral debates, success is often measured as much by avoidance of embarrassment as it is by any brilliance in political discourse.
At Monday night's televised mayoral forum, arguably the single most important moment of the 2003 municipal election race in the Sault, there were few surprises.
No one released any earth-shattering new platform positions.
No one committed any major gaffes.
Prep material
Incumbent John Rowswell prepared extensively for the debate, showing up with an 8-inch-thick briefing file, complete with more than 20 yellow sticky-notes flagging hot-button issues.
The mayor told SooToday.com that he prepared the file specially for the debate.
"It had all the answers for any question that I thought I could be asked. And I didn't need it once," Rowswell told us.
To see Rowswell's debate file, labelled with his hot-button issues, click here.
Challenger Patti Jennings came with a binder and other documents totalling about two inches.
Northern Business Journal ignores Sault
Jennings' debate-prep materials included a copy of the latest edition of Osprey Media Group's Northern Business Journal, which she noted didn't contain a single article about Sault Ste. Marie.
Jennings also had an inspirational verse prominently displayed on her desk last night. To see it, please click here.
Peter Vaudry had about one inch of debate materials on hand, and Gary Bedryk carried in what appeared to be less than half an inch of documents.
To see a SooToday.com Big Picture of the audience at last night's forum, please click here. (You'll need to use your browser's 'scroll' buttons to see the entire image)