Faulconer riding wave of enthusiasm into election day
Election eve finds Kevin Faulconer running a tad late as he joins sign-waving supporters at a busy Pt. Loma-Ocean Beach area intersection for morning rush hour. His early election eve schedule had him on the radio first, and he's got an afternoon council meeting, so cramming in the last-minute campaigning before and after is a must. As people shouted and horns honked, the candidate was live with KUSI.
“We're out here this morning, we're going to be door-knocking, doing phone banks,” said Faulconer. “We're just really excited about hitting the finish line.”
We laughingly referred to what was happening on these streets as the 'Faulconer ten step,' as opposed to the more familiar Texas two step. The sign wavers moving back and forth from one side of the intersection, Sunset Cliffs, to the other, Nimitz Boulevard, whenever the light changed and traffic stopped.
A well publicized recent poll shows the race to be a dead heat, but Faulconer's internal polling indicates it's his contest to lose. Getting your supporters to the polls is the cliche' we always use here when it appears an election is neck and neck.
Alvarez has painted Faulconer as the candidate of the downtown business establishment to the detriment of working people and neighborhoods. But Alvarez's overwhelming labor support has given Faulconer an opportunity to talk about his independence.
“You have to have a mayor who is going to stand up for taxpayers, to the government employee unions to make sure our money is going where it's supposed to: paving our streets, our parks and our libraries, and hiring more police officers,” said Faulconer. “That's a message San Diegans know, they know that's what we need, and I'm really excited.”
All's fair, they say, in love and war, and on election eve apparently politics, too. A small group of Alvarez supporters showed up, one in particular making a lot of noise with a megaphone. After a long and sometimes loud mayoral campaign, Wednesday promises to be a lot quieter.
