The 2011 Election for Mayor of Evansville Polls

The 2010 elections results had not even been certified yet when aspiring candidates for Mayor of Evansville in the 2011 election started hinting of their candidacies. There has currently been one Democratic candidate formally announce, another hint at interest, and the Central Committee Chairman Mark Owen has admonished them all to sit quietly in deference to a potential announcement by current Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel.

Mr. Davis formally announced his candidacy at the Soldiers and Sailors Coliseum last Thursday to a vocal and supportive crowd that has been estimated at between 250 and 400. Recently defeated Vanderburgh County Assessor Jonathan Weaver has been quoted as interested in the office of Mayor but has not made any formal announcement.

The City County Observer conducted polls for each party nomination with a slate of could-be candidates that came from community at large. There are some familiar names of perennial candidates in the poll but interestingly there are some newcomer surprises as well. The raw data in order of preference from the polls is as follows:

Republican Nominee: Dan McGinn 198, Ira Boots 113, Russ Lloyd Jr. 108, Frank Peterlin 92, None of the above 62, Cheryl Musgrave 58, Lloyd Winnecke 44, and Joe Kiefer 16

Democratic Nominee: Rick Davis 200, none of the above 81, Steve Melcher 33, Jonathan Weaver & Jonathan Weinzapfel each with 31, and Troy Tornatta 5.

Multiple votes were not allowed and each poll was up for approximately 5 days. We take the polls down when the voting volume slows down to the point that it will not affect the outcome to leave it up.
We did put up another poll regarding our reader’s opinion of Vanderburgh Democratic Party Chairman Mark Owen’s assertion that “deference should be paid to Mayor Weinzapfel”. The results of this poll are as follows:

“Do you agree with Democratic Party Chairman Mark Owen that aspiring candidates for Mayor should grant deference to Mayor Weinzapfel?” No Votes: 185 Yes Votes: 25

It seems that the readers of the City County Observer are solidly of the belief that it is up to each candidate to craft their own strategy and to make their candidacy known to the public when they choose without paying homage to any sitting office holder while they casually make up their mind.
It is time to narrow the field so we have a new poll. This poll is between the top two vote getters from each party and is an “open” election.