Despite the errors made by the City Pages reporter, it is still true that race played a part in the result of no endorsement in the 8th. Class played a larger roll, but the no endorsement comes, I think, from other sectors entirely.
Of the candidates who stepped up to the mike--Hayden, Hauser, Glidden, Bediako, and Tifft,--not one of those five seeking endorsement was clearly "the one." While I would still assert that Hayden was the best of them, none of the five could collect a secure majority on his/her own hook.
Points I noticed:
In a ward with a high concentration of blue and pink collar families, only one, Hauser, talked about labor. For many in the ward organized labor is a step up to better wages, benefits, and better treatment at work from the unorganized labor they now have. That's a failing on the part of all the candidates who ignored those constituent needs. This might more accurately indicate why many of Hauser's delegates moved to no endorsement.
The long-standing, frequently refreshed, enmity between King Field and other parts of the ward influenced, to some degree, whether people would vote for Glidden. Some were absolutely unwilling to consider a candidate from King Field. Whether any from King Field held to that standard, refusing to vote from someone not from KF, I cannot say.
Two main candidates, Glidden and Hayden, lost delegates when, after the fifth ballot (maybe the fourth), the candidates declared themselves against the 35W Access Project in an attempt to gain ascendancy. There were several delegates who were furious at that declaration and yanked their support, choosing no endorsement.
There was at least a small contingency who wanted no endorsement because they wanted all the candidates out on the hustings to hear from the residents of the ward over the summer. To me, that indicates not only that no candidate was clearly "the one," but that those delegates did not want to take responsibility for promoting Mr. or Ms. Almost-the-one.
WizardMarks, Central
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