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The uncertainty of who will emerge as the strongest candidate on the right is made even more curious by how poll respondents answered a second question: who would make a bad choice for mayor?

Young and Bremner lead that unfortunate category with about a dozen per cent of voters saying they would be a poor choice, followed by Swanson and Carr.

The provincial NDP enacted new campaign rules last year, which ban corporate and union donations; set a $1,200 annual cap on individual donations; and institute new restrictions on loans, election advertising and expense limits.

No longer will Vision and the NPA be able to run expensive campaigns financed by deep-pocketed supporters, which is one reason many observers believe a large number of incumbents have decided not to seek re-election.

“You are not going to be able to have the war room with pizza and coffee all the time. It will be more of a grassroots campaign,” Canseco predicted.

So, how does a candidate with a lower profile get name recognition in a large city like Vancouver, with little money for advertising?

“Ultimately knocking on doors. This is the way campaigns used to be run before money took over. We might be back to a situation similar to the elections we had in the ‘70s and ‘80s,” Canseco said.

“One of the key issues is to talk about things that matter. We’ve seen homelessness, housing, poverty definitely be important issues in the city.”

Carr, who had the most votes of any council candidate in the last election, has fairly equal support in all three of the areas polled: the westside, the eastside and downtown. She draws the same amount of support from people who voted Vision and NPA in the last election. She is slightly better liked by male voters and those over 55.

But it is still early days.

“We may have new names in the next couple of months. There is a lot of discussion about who else could be running,” Canseco said. “We’ve been used to a lot of NPA, a lot of Vision and one Green. This new council could be completely different.”

lculbert@postmedia.com

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