In a dramatic, albeit not totally surprising development, a poll conducted by the Miami Herald shows that former county Commissioner Carlos Gimenez leads former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina in the county mayoral race by a healthy 11 points. Kudos to the Herald for printing a quote from a 21-year-old voter explaining his reasoning for voting for Gimenez: He sucks less.
"I don't think [Gimenez] sucks as much as Julio Robaina,'' poll respondent Anthony Garcia, 21, of West Kendall, told the paper. "From what I've seen, Carlos Gimenez, at least he has some sort of track record.''
And doesn't that just sum up this whole mayoral mess?
It was pretty much universally accepted that former Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez sucked to such an unacceptable degree that more than 90 percent of voters elected to recall him. Though instead of a truly inspiring and not-sucky leader emerging, we went to the polls to vote on a handful of candidates who all sucked just a bit less. Gimenez and Robaina emerged in the runoff, and it now appears Gimenez is the least sucky of the two. Ah, Miami-Dade politics: a wonderful world where we just hope and pray we get it right and our leaders don't end up sucking. Forget real leadership. Please, just don't suck.
Anyway, even though Robaina received more votes in the general election, it seems Gimenez has cemented his block of support in the runoff and now leads 50 to 39.
Usually, as the older Cuban voters go, so goes the election, but not this time. Robaina leads among Hispanics 65 and older, but Gimenez dominates everywhere else: He leads among younger Hispanics, blacks, and whites.
He also leads in voters who chose third-place candidate Marcelo Llorrente in the first round of voting 50 to 29.
Gimenez also leads among voters who previously supported former 2 Live Crew leader and New Times columnist Luther Campbell by 50 to 28. This even after Campbell surprisingly and controversially extended his endorsement to Robaina.
The poll certainly looks like good news for Gimenez, but election day doesn't come until June 28. Early voting is now open.
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