Even a crass opportunist knows…

With local Democrats endorsing David Alvarez for San Diego mayor last night, the jokes immediately flew, conjecturing how long before Nathan Fletcher would dump his latest party.

“Countdown until Nathan Fletcher joins the Whig Party starting…now,” consultant Jason Roe quipped on Facebook.

The “famous” lollipop photo was even resurrected by Barrett Tetlow. The image was first inspired when D.A. Bonnie Dumanis took a shot at Fletcher last year for abandoning the GOP after he failed to get the party’s endorsement in the 2012 mayor’s race. Dumanis, also not endorsed, said at the time, “I didn’t get the endorsement and I didn’t throw my lollipop in the sand.”

So, with Fletcher failing to win a second party’s backing twice in two years, will he again “move to the middle” and become an independent, hoping it will help his chances?

Even a crass opportunist knows what the public will view as crass opportunism.

The Fletcher camp knows full well they will already be dealing with the specter of opportunism, without increasing it at least two-fold with another switcheroo.

Fletcher will stay a Dem, sandy sucker or not.