David Soknacki is the opposite of Rob Ford: he’s skinny, sober and thoughtful. But is the political press too sensationalized for a candidate with substance to get noticed?

Episode Rundown

1:29 Why Rob Ford will Win Again by Dan Rath (link)

2:20 David Blaine upstages David Soknacki (link)

4:20 “I’m sure if Winston Churchill came back and gave one of his immortal speeches, they (the press gallery) would go to cover Rob Ford’s toe instead.” -Soknacki

4:30 “(Ford as an attention suck) is on the scale of the black hole or the Big Bang” -Soknacki

6:35 “there is a frustration to getting my voice out. We’re going to raise the issues one by one by one.” -Soknacki

7:10 “My policies have been good enough to be appropriated by my competitors” -Soknacki

8:05 “I don’t want to ‘bump off’ Rob Ford. I want to be Mayor. I’m not here to score a moral victory. I’m not here to be a fringe candidate” -Soknacki

9:20 “The public needs to take a look in the mirror. Because what they want and how they act are fairly different.” -Soknacki

9:55 “You much prefer hearing that (David Blaine will be doing tricks at Ford’s office) over reforms to the land transfer tax” -Soknacki

10:50 “There’s lots of information there for the media if they’re willing to do the digging” -Soknacki

11:30 Soknacki says if media doesn’t want staged events or publicity stunts from Fords , they need to look deeper look and ask more questions

12:53 “If you have to cover (a staged press event), fine. But you can force that questioning to where you want it to go.” -Soknacki

13:45 We’ve had a hell of a lot of fun on the campaign. We got toques for all of the (Toronto) communities.” -Soknacki

15:22 Soknacki says in social media age of political messaging, the press needs to figure out what value they add. Suggests it should be in providing context, forcing issues on to the agenda, and exposing obscured information.

18:30 another take: is Soknacki a media darling? Given how low he’s polling, he gets a fantastic amount of press.

19:40 If his brand is “ignored underdog” what happens if he starts winning?

21:00 “I’m not a celebrity, I’m not going to start at 20%. I need to build numbers positively” -Soknacki

21:24 “The road to success is if people take a look at my competitors (and see they have) become too successful as celebrity candidates and not offer content” -Soknacki

21:35 Why are you spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a campaign you’re probably not going to win?

“Look around (the CANADALAND studio) You’re not making a lot of money here. Why are you doing this?” -Soknacki

25:30 “We are reaching (young) people without landlines. Our challenge is to make sure they go out and vote” -Soknacki

25:50 “We have invested a lot in back-of-house software. We’ve built on existing platforms. It’s proprietary. It’s competitive information at this stage” -Soknacki

27:11 “I don’t think at any point it’s terrifically irresponsible to split the anti-Ford vote. (A Ford victory is) unlikely”. -Soknacki