Congratulations Rocco Rossi....You are the New Barbara Hall

UPDATE FROM the ROSSI CAMP HERE!

What a joke. The Rossi campaign is imploding.

Last week Rossi himself said this:

"The George Smitherman-led Barbara Hall campaign in 2003 left Toronto with a tax-and-spend mayor, and now George Smitherman's steady plummet in the polls risks handing victory to an angry Councillor Rob Ford who has no plan for our great city." said Rossi.

And, with Rossi staying in the race, Toronto just might get their biggest embarrassment yet as a mayor. Rob Ford.

Fact vs. Fiction

Statement:

John Capobianco offered his support and that of a handful of Rossi staffers during a Sept. 29 meeting at an Etobicoke Tim Hortons with Nick Kouvalis, Mr. Ford’s deputy campaign manager, sources tell The Globe and Mail.

Fact: Mr. Capobianco, who confirmed the meeting took place, dismissed as “absolute nonsense” the suggestion he sought money from the Ford campaign or spoke for anyone but himself.

Fiction: “I’m telling you flat out, hook me up to a lie detector, I have not heard from a single person senior, junior or otherwise that Rocco should drop out,” added Warren Kinsella, the Liberal adviser who joined Mr. Rossi’s campaign at the end of August.

He dismissed the rumours as a ploy by Mr. Smitherman’s camp.

Fact: One of the Liberals who first urged Mr. Rossi to quit was the campaign’s original manager, Sachin Aggarwal.

While Mr. Aggarwal still believed the businessman and former chief executive of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario was the best man to replace David Miller, the polls convinced him victory was impossible.

In August, he encouraged his candidate to quit and support Mr. Smitherman.

That advice, coupled with the campaign’s failure to gain traction, led Mr. Rossi to shuffle Mr. Aggarwal to director of policy. He’s since left altogether.


Statement: “In our case, if we drop out, a lot of our support goes to Rob Ford ... this infantile desire of the Smitherman people to get Rocco to drop out is ridiculous. All it’s going to do is put them further behind.”

Fact: The Smitherman internal polling shows that, among Rossi committed voters, 55% to 60% of Rossi's vote would go to Smitherman. The net gain is Smitherman's to be had.

Statement: Indeed, Mr. Rossi’s campaign manager and his best-known volunteer adviser both insisted again Sunday that their candidate is gaining strength and confidence, thanks in part to a fresh internal poll showing Mr. Rossi in a “solid third.”

Fact: A "solid third" with 21 days left in the campaign means you lose.