It’s Going to be an Ugly Eight Weeks!

Thor's AssistantRostra Administrator (Thor's Assistant) 4 Comments

Republican Party Chairman Tony Krvaric has taken a keen interest in who is communicating for Nathan Fletcher. On Thursday, Krvaric tweeted to Rachel Laing: “Just to be transparent, you’re now advocating for Nathan Fletcher in a paid capacity, right?” Laing recently left Mayor Jerry Sanders to take a job as communications director at Public Policy Strategies. Tom Shepard, who is running Fletcher’s campaign, …

Plans to Fix Schools Rankle Some Voters

Tony ManolatosTony Manolatos 11 Comments

Politics & Media Mashup: A look at this week’s local political coverage San Diego’s broken school system has been a campaign issue in the mayor’s race since Day 1, but the feedback I’ve seen lately from voters suggests some people are hardly impressed with what they’re hearing. Two letter writers, including a teacher, rip the candidates in today’s U-T San …

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 …

Team Fletcher: “Just Win, Baby!”

Tony ManolatosTony Manolatos 35 Comments

Politics & Media Mashup will return next week. This week, it’s all Nathan Fletcher all the time.  Nathan Fletcher left the Republican Party because there’s nothing he wants more than to be San Diego’s next mayor. Yes, to me it’s that simple. Fletcher said this week he was leaving the party – with less than three months before the June …

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 …

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 — …

WWFD? What Would Fletcher Do?

James BehanJames Behan 8 Comments

In the back and forth over Assemblyman and mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher’s post Let’s be honest. Let’s be truthful. And let’s be direct., Rostrafarian Steve Rider posted an honest, truthful and direct question about this “leading by example” business. This brings up an interesting question. One can only assume that on the off chance CPR is defeated either in the …

Fletcher’s Fetcher…And More From Our First Candidate Q & A

Tony ManolatosTony Manolatos 1 Comment

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

Two Endorsements, Two Narratives

Owen KelloggOwen Kellogg 5 Comments

Interesting day in the mayoral race. Both Nathan Fletcher and Carl DeMaio rolled out significant endorsements that say a lot about their priorities and what to expect from their prospective administrations. Nathan Fletcher and the Lifeguard Union Fletcher announced the endorsement of the Lifeguards union and released a “Clean Water and Safe Beaches Plan.” Fletcher is clearly continuing to advance …

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 …

Military File Earns Nathan Fletcher Two Very Nice Stories

Tony ManolatosTony Manolatos 1 Comment

Politics & Media Mashup: your weekend news aggregator leads off with the most interesting local stories of the week and includes stories about statewide politics, national politics and social media. You can hear Tony Manolatos talk politics and media with KOGO’s LaDona Harvey every Friday at 3:50 p.m. on 95.7 FM starting Jan. 6. UPDATED DEC. 24, 9:05 A.M. After …

Weekend Reading: Voice layoffs, Fletcher tops poll, Schools on the brink, Public pensions too high and Newt under attack

Tony ManolatosTony Manolatos 5 Comments

Your weekend news aggregator: Local Most of the local Twitter chatter on Friday was about the Voice of San Diego laying off nearly a third of its staff. Four people were let go, proving yet again that no one has figured out what a sustainable business model for local journalism looks like. A new and very unscientific San Diego Mayoral Albondigas …

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 …