And there you have it, Rob Ford has been elected the 64th mayor of Toronto. With 95% of the vote counted, Ford, the councillor of 10 years, is leading with 47.8% of the vote. George Smitherman is following with 35.1% and Joe Pantalone is carrying 11.5% of the vote. If you add up Smitherman and Pantalone's votes, well, that's still not enough to catch Ford. To see the full breakdown by wards, and the final numbers for all the candidates, go here. More to come...

Drop-out mayoral candidate, George Mammoliti, has officially endorsed Rob Ford. Clearly their past issues have been pushed aside. “Today I’ll be supporting Rob Ford for the next Mayor of Toronto,” Mammoliti said in a televised announcement. “I think it’s important for all of us to be around Mr. Ford and work with him with respect to his ideas.” The much-anticipated announcement came as no shock, but does show council support for Ford, who has also been endorsed by Scarborough councillor Mike Del Grande. And as the ...

In a former Toronto election, a long-shot candidate emerged unexpectedly from a crowded pack in the early fall to mount what would become a formidable challenge in a marathon race. That candidate carried an extremely sharp critique of the outgoing mayor, survived a major gaffe and constructed a case for support on a highly symbolic issue. He convinced voters in many parts of the city, including areas in which he was not expected to succeed, that he would stand up for the interests of ordinary families in the face of a corrupt and remote civic administration. I’m guessing Spacing readers have all passed the “who-is-he” quiz by this stage. But my point is that there are intriguing parallels between David Miller’s 2003 election and the one we’re stuck with for 2010, notwithstanding the very stark personal contrasts between the outgoing mayor and Rob Ford. George Smitherman’s ill-fated candidacy is the most obvious point of comparison, because in so many ways he’s re-enacting all the mistakes of Barbara Hall’s campaign – no surprise, as he was the author of her attempted come-back. Like Hall, Smitherman has utterly failed to explain why he wants to be mayor, beyond an oppressive sense of deservedness. Like Hall, his platform is massive and unfocused. Like Hall, he’s shown a problematic inclination to abandon his natural constituency in order to pursue suburban voting blocs. They both even sought refuge in “I Love Toronto” ad blitzes in lieu of a concise statement of purpose.

[youtube width="700" height="400"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xfsIj6gYAw&feature=player_embedded#![/youtube] Rob Ford has released his long-anticipated transit platform. And he did so on YouTube, reading off his notes and splicing in images and b-roll footage. Calling for the end of the war on cars, Ford puts forth a "sensible approach to improve transportation and reduce congestion" in the city. And he's going to do this with blanket-statements like "better transit, better roads and and a new bicycle and pedestrian trails across the city." The latter is interesting in light of Ford's take on bicycle lanes in this City Hall video in 2007. The new transit plan ...

[youtube width="650" height="344"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nySs1cEq5rs&feature=player_embedded[/youtube] A new video is going viral for the mayoral race. And yes, Rob Ford is at the centre of this one, too. Spacing Votes recently published a post on the Jarvis Street bike lanes with comment from Rocco Rossi and George Smitherman, both who oppose the fresh paint lines. As for Rob Ford, we will let the above video, dug up from 2007, sum up his stance on bike lanes in the city. Because, as he puts it, "What I compare bike lanes to is swimming with the sharks. Sooner or later you're going ...

[youtube width="600" height="400"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8rVVPUuB8Q&feature=related[/youtube] You gotta love Rob Ford's style. After launching his attempt at a viral video last week, we are still a little unsure of how it will help his message, "Respect for Taxpayers." The whole thing is just a little confusing and, well, cartoonish. A twangy guitar riff. A dance party with bobble heads of David Miller accompanied with mayoral front-runners. Billowing animated cash behind them. And, er, a chiseled, superman-esque Ford. Oh, no, hold the phone, this makes sense. Let's stop the party at city hall. Gotcha. Down with the spending! The video has gained relative steam—it's Ford's top viewer, his other videos are typically floating around 400 hits—with 2,700 views in a week. Well, that's impressive in the viral-scheme-of-things for this mayoral race, anyway. We're curious, what are your thoughts on this odd, animated attack ad? Does its blanket message of "city hall spending=bad" work?

A lot has been happening in Toronto as of late. Some of it contentious (G20). Some of it celebratory (Pride Parade). Some even a little fun (NXNE and Toronto Jazz Festival). All of it without hearing much from Toronto’s mayoral candidates. So what’s going on? Good question. And an even better place to follow the swiftly approaching election. (Are you ready for election signs to dot the city once again?) Spacing Votes, like during the 2006 race, will be closely following, nit-picking, analyzing, critiquing, commenting on and, of course, informing you ...