You can almost feel it.
The leadership of the City of St. Petersburg is about to change. Dramatically. And for the better.
Rick Kriseman is about to do something virtually unprecedented in St. Petersburg politics: he is going to unseat the incumbent mayor. Bill Foster is going to be a one-termer. Kriseman’s outstanding latest web video is entitled “On the Cusp,” and that is just how this incredible moment in the political universe feels three or so days before the election. That things are on the cusp of great change.
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There is data to fuel those hopes and dreams for the future.
Kriseman gained a slight advantage in polling shortly after the primary this summer, and now that leads seems to have solidified, as evidenced by the Times/WUSF/Bay New 9 poll, and St. Pete Polls results.
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It is true: polling isn’t everything. There is large consensus in political circles that Kriseman ran a nearly flawless campaign, thanks in large part of a young but incredibly talented team lead by campaign manager Cesar Fernandez. It is also true that the Foster campaign seemed to flail and lurch from crises to crises, stumbling over problem after problem.
His terribly awkward pander to Midtown, complete with failed roll-out and uniformed advisers, in late October.
The loss of Honda’s sponsorship of the St. Pete Grand Prix in mid-October.
The strike-out over the talks with the the Tampa Bay Rays in September.
The resignation of Police Chief Chuck Harmon, which was confirmed to the Times before the mayor was informed.
His mishandling of the entire Pier fiasco — an iconic downtown landmark, now shuttered.
The Sweetbay closings earlier this year.
Even today, the very idea of a sitting mayor being “endorsed” by a pathetic, small-minded, homophobic bigot — Momma Tee Lassiter — as two openly gay women are about to be elected to City Council, seems out of place at best, unsuitable for a St. Petersburg on the cusp. It is, of course, made worse by Foster’s failure to reject the endorsement, failure to rebuke to Lassiter.
All of it amounts to Bill Foster’s failed leadership.
The Times Editorial Board has recommended Kriseman, though I disagree somewhat that “this election has not captured the imagination of the electorate.” I do think they got it exactly right in noting that this has been a campaign, a race about leadership, and “electing a mayor who recognizes St. Petersburg’s potential, seizes opportunities and understands that the success of the city and of Tampa Bay are linked.”
There is a lot of news in and around Pinellas County about leadership, changing leadership and new faces. And it starts with Rick Kriseman on Tuesday.
