David Miller made the reporters and cameras wait for a minute or two longer than usual, to talk about how he was feeling about attending the last council meeting of his career. You see, he was finishing his book. Not the one he was reading, but the one he's writing.
For the past seven years, Miller has been that kind of mayor - and initially, that was part of his appeal. He's a self-confident, downtown-dwelling, Harvard-educated intellectual, not shy about using $10 words and unapologetic about his progressive politics and cosmopolitan world view. As an antidote to populist, right-of-centre Mayor Mel Lastman, Miller couldn't be beat.Now, heading out of his second term of office and back into private life, polls are showing Miller will likely be replaced by his antithesis: city councillor Rob Ford, co-owner of a successful family business, dyed-in-the-wool conservative, scornful of arts and culture and as anti-intellectual as they come on City Council. But it doesn't seem to be as simple as a repudiation of the Miller brand. One of the most recent polls showed while Torontonians would vote for Ford over his opponents by a 11 point margin, Miller himself would likely win if he were to run. Granted, the only poll is on election day and Miller will be elsewhere that night. But in late August, it's clear that Toronto voters are feeling more than a little schizoid.It was with these thoughts in mind that I listened to my tape of Miller's laconic reflections about his last seven years in office, the council agenda this week, and the weeks ahead. I found myself wondering: How would those words sound coming out of Rob Ford's mouth? - then realizing, those words wouldn't come out of Rob Ford's mouth - then wondering again: what, exactly would?For instance, when Miller said this about the debate over Toronto's new zoning bylaw - a giant document that literally shapes the future of the city on a block-by-block level, he replied: "It's been 13 years since amalgamation. Don't you think it's time we had a zoning bylaw?" Ford would probably say, "Yeah that was a tough one." Both would be bright enough, as Miller was on Wednesday, to refer detailed questions to city staff.When Miller was asked if he'd intervene in the election for fear of Ford winning, he said, "I've done my level best to stay out of it. Occasionally I had to defend this council. When a candidate talks about taxes in Toronto - we have the lowest property taxes in the Toronto region. If those facts aren't out there then someone might erroneously believe that we're going to cut the taxes that are obviously the lowest."Part of Rob Ford's appeal is he would never use the word "erroneously" in a sentence. The other part is he would never claim taxes are low enough. His answer to a question like that might come out something like this: "'Course I will. I'll run councillors in every ward to make sure the socialists --" Then he'd laugh as he realized he wouldn't intervene with anyone to keep Rob Ford out of office, and he'd tell the reporter that was a good one.It doesn't take long to see that this game doesn't really work: to the extent that Torontonians have made up their mind in the mayoralty race of 2010, what they've really decided to do is divide themselves along increasingly sharpening lines. Some voters are tired of downtown elites steering their lives to the left, and angry in their certainty that the city's money is being mismanaged. Some are happy with the course the city is on, perhaps identify with downtown elites if they are not among them themselves, and have confidence that the city's doing the best it can with what it's got. Either group could, with the right candidate, elect themselves a mayor.And right now, the only candidate in the race who's managed to capture the attention of those voters is Rob Ford. David Miller has made it clear that he's done.