One the eve of Tuesday’s primary election, the candidates for San Diego’s next mayor were using every minute to gain eleventh-hour voters.
The schedules for each of the contenders had them going to at least half a dozen events or locations around town.
The noon hour found District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis on a Kearny Mesa street corner, waving campaign signs with her supporters.
Dumanis dismissed the most recent pre-election poll, showing her in distant fourth place. She noted, it was conducted by the same outfit that had her losing the 2002 DA's race.
"And here I am, the DA for the last nine years,” Dumanis said. “It's like a basketball game. It's the last two minutes of the game when all the action happens."
The other contenders wound up practicing “retail politics” at the Wesley Palms Retirement Community in Pacific Beach, one after another.
The residents really seemed to be up on the issues, and kept the candidates on their toes
"I will not be a perfect mayor; I will make mistakes,” said Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher. “But I will listen. I will learn. And I tell you I will wake up every single morning with one focus. And that's making San Diego a truly great city."
U.S. Rep. Bob Filner set potential voters’ eyes on one of the most evident problems he hopes to fix in San Diego – the infrastructure backlog.
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"What about the potholes and the sidewalks, and the parking and the rec centers and libraries and all that?” he asked. “We've got to put money and power back into the neighborhoods, and way from just downtown."
City Councilman and frontrunner Carl DeMaio’s final message going into Tuesday’s primary was one of economic recovery under his watch.
"San Diegans want specifics; they want details, and they want a real comprehensive plan. And the Roadmap to Recovery shows how we can balance the budget for five years, every year, with a surplus."
This mayoral primary campaign could become San Diego's costliest, if it's not already – almost $6.5 million and still counting. Independent expenditures by special interest groups accounted for nearly a third.
Join us back here on Election night for real-time results on our Decision 2012 page. We'll be airing live coverage of all the major races from 8 to 11 p.m. on our California Nonstop channel, with NBC 7 San Diego reporters embedded at all the major election night campaign headquarters and analysis from experts across the political spectrum.
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