While Sacramento may have grabbed an 8th place award for livable cities, the election season bloopers we’ve witnessed in recent weeks definitely won’t win us a best screenplay award to go with it. Voters have stood by in awe, watching Fargo and supporters fling mud pie after mud pie out of her city hall bunker in hopes of hitting KJ squarely with one, and the word is: Most people think they’ve all been duds. Truly, the only noise battle-weary voters continue to hear is the sizzle of KJ frying on the media BBQ, with a bed of hot character assassinations smoldering below.

It’s funny in retrospect. I bet a lot of Fargo’s supporters like ‘dilla, 447, ross, fargo, fong, sac bee, et al wish they could go back in time and do things differently. After all, had they shown personal restraint and let us simply have some dialog with KJ–without interrupting every 20 min with another TMZ piece—he may just have emerged as merely a well-groomed, passionate champion of public safety, and not a lot more. (It’s amazing that in one breath people were spewing nasty things about him, then in the next they were admonishing him for avoiding them at public forums).

That said, Fargo isn’t the only one who will be on the blooper reel instead of the highlight film when this is all said ad done. Many observers have noted KJ’s campaign has been an exercise in experimentation and played out campaign tactics that haven’t seemed to inspire people much, and I agree to a certain extent. Squinting through all the smoke and mirrors, I have been able to discern what I perceive to be some potential chinks in KJ’s armor—notably in the areas of communication, unifying leadership skills, and public relations.

In my opinion, KJ’s decision to hinge his campaign on a fear-inducing generalization (”Sacramentans tell me they feel unsafe”) was a highly flammable idea that ended up backfiring and polarizing the community. It’s not 2004. People don’t fall for the “elect me and I’ll protect you” pitch anymore (or do they?). Even the Sac PD, one of KJ’s endorsers (!) was forced to disagree with him saying “Sac has crime issues, but citizens can feel safe” (when they KNOW San Jose has twice the people and is safer than Sac). KJ’s generalizations have done little to bring people together—which doesn’t fit well with his “city that works for everyone” campaign promise. KJ showed he is perhaps a bit out touch, too.

But wait. While KJ’s PR flubs are notable, they still pale in comparison to the bloopers we have seen the Fargo camp fart out. Their character attacks on Johnson were melodramatic, abusive, and completely UNCOOL. Instead of sitting back and letting the KJ story tell itself, Fargo and camp decided they would try to make our decision for us. If Fargo loses, it will be because of the hideous way she misused her position, and allowed the attacks to continue in earnest without protest. It goes to show what little confidence Fargo’s supporters had in her ability to get re-elected strictly on the merits of her track record–which is reason enough not to vote for her, if you ask me.

Personally I think both campaigns have suffered from the same problem: Lack of a high quality campaign management (Dale Howard on Fargo’s side—with untold Ross direction; and Christy Setzer on Johnson’s side). Both sides have been sloppy..

BUT..

Let’s face it, KJ’s were PR flubs, whereas Fargo’s were breaches of the public’s trust—particularly since she signed an agreement promising she would run a clean campaign. So if you’re voting on who ran the better campaign, I am going to have to say Johnson because he ran his clean, and stayed the course, no matter how TEMPTING it must have been to shovel up one of those mud pies on the ground and fire them back at city hall.

Alas, when all the smoke has cleared Tuesday and a victor has emerged, the only REAL LOSERS will be the people who barbecued their cash—and reputations—needlessly smearing KJ.