[thistleclub]

McHattie came third but ran best campaign
(Hamilton Spectator, Andrew Dreschel, Oct 29 2014)

For the record, the decision by The Spectator's editorial board not to endorse a mayoral candidate in Monday's election was not unanimous.

Some members of the board, including me, wanted to continue the practice of giving the paper's stamp of approval to one of the contenders.

In the end, the consensus was to forgo custom and, instead, weigh the platforms of the three frontrunners, describe to readers how they stack up against the ed board's positions and leave it at that.

Consequently, the board never got down to nitty gritty discussions on which candidate we thought would make the best mayor. But I can tell you this, if we had voted immediately after our meeting with Brian McHattie, there's a good chance he would have got the thumbs up.

Board members were blown away by how well he did during his presentation and Q&A session. He was prepared, direct, precise and, frankly, more mayoral than either Fred Eisenberger or Brad Clark.

Until then, McHattie had generally given the impression of being a bland vessel others pour hopes and visions into. And though McHattie passionately shares those hopes and visions, he had more flatness than fire in his belly. However, for an extended hour at the ed board meeting, he sounded more like a true leader than a mere courier of ideas.

That's not to say if the paper had opted to endorse someone, McHattie would have automatically got the nod. There were still concerns that, among other things, he seemed more of a free-spender than his rivals, a key weakness given the city's fiscal challenges.

The point, however, is even though McHattie ultimately placed a distant third behind mayor-elect Eisenberger and second-placer Clark, he clearly grew more during the election and ran a much more energetic and aspirational campaign than his opponents.

It's a shame, really, that just as McHattie has put some muscle on his political legs, they've been cut out from under him. He was not only seasoned by the campaign, he seemed refreshed by it.

Read it in full here.