Populist, right-wing, “Big C” Conservative city councillor Rob Ford, to the horror of the city’s liberal (and Liberal) elites, is comfortably leading the pack of five major mayoral contenders with 32% of the vote, according to the latest Ipsos Reid poll.
He also appears undamaged by recent campaign gaffes.
(…) To those unfamiliar with the bombastic Ford, he has the girth, temperament and manner of a bull in a china shop.
Think of the late comedian Chris Farley portraying hapless motivational speaker Matt Foley on Saturday Night Live, furiously adjusting his belt and shouting at his unsuspecting victims that if they don’t get their act together, they’ll end up living “in a van down by the river.”
But Ford’s more than a caricature and his opponents have underestimated him.
