Scott Smith and Rex Griswold are in a run-off

Here are two great takes on the Mesa elections: one from Sonoran Alliance and one from my pals over at Exurban League. Neither of the papers felt like they had to post any election numbers, so here are the results from the Mayor's race:

Scott Smith 16,229 (38%)
Rex Griswold 14,198 (34%)
Claudia Walters 11,890 (28%)

So, Scott Smith beat Rex Griswold by over 2,000 votes and Claudia Walters by over 4000 votes. However, if you read the headlines in the Tribune or the Republic today, you'd think that Griswold had won the whole thing. Interestingly enough, Griswold assumes that votes for Walters will transfer to him because he is now the only one holding the experience mantle. I'd say that there was probably a reason people picked Walters over him in the first place, and so I think it will be a fight for every last one of her voters.

I also realized that it was Griswold's campaign manager who commented on my post about the Tribune's survey saying that the survey didn't take into account the power of East Mesa. In some ways, it looks like he was right. Griswold was not in third place like the Tribune said. However, upon further review, I think he was trying to hint that Griswold would be first, which didn't happen. Either way, it just goes to show that the polls aren't always right.

The other latest trend that is showing up in the comments section is who is giving money to whom. Its sort of funny when you think about it that people want to argue over the finances of two businessmen who have each given a bunch of their own money to their campaigns. Why is this as big of a deal as they are trying to make it out to be? Some Rex supporters are trying to tag Smith as a "good ol boy" which is hilarious because he is running against the status quo and makes no bones about it. How does that even work?

Anyway, my prediction is that things are about to heat up over the next two months. Now that its one on one, its going to be harder for the candidates to just talk about themselves.