EDUCATION: What’s the mayor got to do with it?

Erica HollowayErica Holloway 9 Comments

Little doubt that education is one of today’s hottest political topics. Candidates for mayor of America’s Finest City even managed to weave the buzz-worthy issue into their platforms. Tomorrow, a forum promises to delve head-first into the matter and answer the one question which seems to come up time and again: What’s the mayor got to do with education? For …

New Poll, Convention Center Drama, Big Bucks and a Shift in Leadership

Tony ManolatosTony Manolatos Leave a Comment

Politics & Media Mashup leads off with a look at some of the more interesting stories of the week and wraps up with links to some of the best stories about politics and media at the local, state and national levels. This blog post on San Diego Rostra about a new San Diego Mayor 2012 poll garnered a lot of interest …

BREAKING: Poll shows DeMaio and Filner in a virtual tie with Fletcher in third

Thor's AssistantRostra Administrator (Thor's Assistant) 3 Comments

San Diego Rostra has obtained new poll results that place Bob Filner and Carl DeMaio in a virtual tie for the lead in the race to become San Diego’s next mayor followed by Nathan Fletcher. “With an aggressive, well-funded campaign Filner is poised to advance in the San Diego Mayoral Race,” a two-page Feb. 29 memo highlighting the poll results …

Dumanis: ‘I don’t get scared. I just work hard!’

Tony ManolatosTony Manolatos 4 Comments

[captionpix imgsrc=”http://sdrostra.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/bonnie.jpg” captiontext=”Bonnie Dumanis”] Politics & Media Mashup is on break for a few weeks so we can bring you exclusive Q & As with San Diego Mayoral candidates Bonnie Dumanis, Carl DeMaio and Nathan Fletcher. We kicked off the series two weeks ago with Fletcher and followed up last week with DeMaio. We determined the order based on when the responses to …

Word for Word

David OgulD.A. Bonnie Dumanis, David Ogul, Undesignated 2 Comments

Courtesy of the San Diego Reader… “Mayoral candidate and district attorney Bonnie Dumanis, who yesterday (March 14) released a plan to improve City operations, seems to have plagiarized much of it from the County’s General Management System Manual, says Erik Bruvold, president of National University System Institute for Policy Research.” Here’s the link  

DeMaio: ‘My real opponents are the government employee unions and powerful downtown interests’

Tony ManolatosTony Manolatos 12 Comments

[captionpix imgsrc=”http://sdrostra.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/demaio.jpg” captiontext=”Carl DeMaio”] Politics & Media Mashup is on break for the next few weeks so we can bring you exclusive Q & As with San Diego Mayoral candidates Carl DeMaio, Bonnie Dumanis and Nathan Fletcher. We kicked off the series last week with Fletcher. We determined the order based on when the responses to our questions were received — …

San Diego Mayoral Debate Mashup

Tony ManolatosTony Manolatos 1 Comment

[captionpix imgsrc=”http://sdrostra.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/invite.jpg”] The Lincoln Club of San Diego County, San Diego County Taxpayers Association & The City Club sponsored Friday’s Mayoral Debate at the U.S. Grant Hotel. All four major candidates — City Councilman Carl DeMaio, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, Congressman Bob Filner and State Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher — attended the standing-room-only debate. This was the first debate to include …

Bob Kittle: ‘I have no interest in returning to the U-T’

Tony ManolatosTony Manolatos 9 Comments

[captionpix imgsrc=”http://sdrostra.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Robert_Kittle_mug.jpg” captiontext=”Bob Kittle”] Politics & Media Mashup: your weekend news aggregator leads off with an exclusive Q & A with Bob Kittle and includes links to some of the week’s best stories about local, state and national politics as well as social and traditional media.  Most of you are familiar with Bob Kittle, the former editorial page editor at U-T San …

Belly up to the bar: The San Diego Rostra Mayoral Debate Drinking Game

The Libertarian Lass, Gayle FalkenthalThe Libertarian Lass, Gayle Falkenthal 24 Comments

For true San Diego poliwonks, New Year’s Eve was just a warm-up act. We know many of you have been saving yourself for the real deal: Political Debate Season 2012. Starting Friday, January 13 with the first official San Diego Mayoral Debate of 2012, we will soon be subjected to a seemingly endless series of candidate debates and it will …

Social Media Drives New Brand of Buzzy Journalism

Tony ManolatosTony Manolatos 4 Comments

  Politics & Media Mashup: your weekend news aggregator leads off with a look at a web site striving to become the first pure social news organization. Also included: A good week for the U-T, the paper’s plan to start cheering for a new Chargers stadium, and links to some of the week’s best stories about local, state and national politics …

Who has more Klout?

Tony ManolatosTony Manolatos 13 Comments

Viewing the San Diego Mayor’s Race Through Klout’s Lens Shows Fletcher On Top If San Diego’s mayoral race was based solely on social media influence the winner would be Nathan Fletcher. That’s not going to sit well with some people, so allow me to explain. In the past, one’s social media influence was measured by the number of “friends” on …

What should Rostra 2.0 to look like?

Tony ManolatosTony Manolatos 16 Comments

One of the great things about San Diego Rostra is its ability to attract a variety of voices with different political views. Rostra is a center-right site, but local journalists and some well-known Democrats are regular readers and commentators. With monthly hits by unique visitors as high as 20,000, Rostra has become a must read for numerous San Diegans. Where …

San Diego’s Mayor Race Relationship Status: It’s Complicated

Erica HollowayErica Holloway 8 Comments

Originally posted on the Flash Report. The 2012 San Diego mayor’s race began like other love affairs – lots of hope and promise for the future. Then, the sparkle and shine of courtship faded quickly into the same old dull routine. No more flowers. No more moonlight and love songs. Seems I’m not the only one who noticed our romance …

Mayoral Debate Fails To Strike Sparks, DeMaio and Dumanis Stay Out, Is Fletcher’s Heart In Pension Reform?

Bradley J. FikesBradley J. Fikes 15 Comments

I really wanted to see the mayoral debate on Wednesday, but my day job kept me until it was too late to go. But from what’s been printed about it, I didn’t miss much. Only two of the top four candidates even showed up — Nathan Fletcher and Bob Filner. Kudos to them for showing up. As for Carl DeMaio …

San Diego’s Mayoral Candidate Hit Parade

The Libertarian Lass, Gayle FalkenthalThe Libertarian Lass, Gayle Falkenthal 5 Comments

I’m not the first political pundit to focus on the importance of social media in the political campaign mix. What’s also become increasingly important is search engine results. A political candidate used to consider it a coup to be on the front page of the daily newspaper. It’s still a plus, but the modern version of the “front page” is …

Say What?!?

Erica HollowayErica Holloway 10 Comments

I once read William Carlos Williams’ The Red Wheelbarrow over and over in an English interpretation class for three hours deciphering the deeper meaning of an 8-line poem. That pales to my enchantment with this San Diego Union-Tribune editorial on the San Diego mayoral race. First, it begins with a self-aware candidate assessment: “The early conventional wisdom about the race …

San Diego Mayoral Candidates: Debate This

Erica HollowayErica Holloway Leave a Comment

As originally posted on The Flash Report. A debate’s raging in San Diego. A debate over debates. It’s a curious thing. The moment San Diego mayoral candidate Councilman Carl DeMaio turned down a Voice of San Diego hosted candidates debate, among others already accepted by Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher and Congressman Bob Filner, suddenly he was the target of much speculation …