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C O V E R S T O R Ydebate that Fletcher had to explain a schoolreform law to him. Filner topped off his flubsover his major Unified Port of San Diego expansionplan when his cell phone rang in themiddle of a television interview about it.But soon Filner began receiving seriousassistance fron an unlikely source. As farback as the winter, DeMaio would walk upto Filner at events and deliver a message, accordingto Filner’s campaign. “I’m remindingpeople that Bob Filner is the Democrat,”DeMaio would say.DeMaio’s strategy was simple. A runoffagainst Filner would produce the kid of rightvs. left battle that the councilman could win.A runoff against a moderate would be muchtougher. And DeMaio had the money, campaigninfrastructure and standing near thetop of the polls to try to pick his opponent.Once Fletcher started surging, it meantDeMaio and his supporters had to take outthe assemblyman. When the campaign enteredits final month, they began executing aplan relentlessly.Voters’ mailboxes overflowed with mailfrom DeMaio attacking Fletcher’s poor attendancerecord in the Assembly. And thetelevision airwaves showed an ad blasting theassemblyman for engineering a middle-ofthe-nightdeal to send billions in tax revenuesDowntown at the expense of stateschool funding.DeMaio’s supporters believed these hitswould work. Polling done by a political actioncommittee backing DeMaio showedthat 81 percent and 74 percent of Fletchersupporters were less likely to vote for the assemblymanonce their heard about his abswenteeismand the Downtown dea,respectively. DeMaio also went so far as tosend mail to Democrats, quoting left-wingpoliticians and using left-wing rhetoric toblast Fletcher’s standing with liberals.Filner realized he benefited from all this,calling DeMaio his “best weapon” againstFletcher. He also began hitting a stride of hisown. His debate appearances becamesharper and crisper. He brought down Lt.Gov. Gavin Newsom, a stae Democraticheavyweight, for a fundraiser. And he spokemore humbly abougt his own campaign. Headmitted that he should have spent moretime raising money and that he had underestimatedFletcher.It became impossible to pay even theslightest attention to the campaign and nothear the Filner-as-Democrat message.Where’s Bonnie?Lost in all this drama was Dumanis. The60-yeear-old district attorney entered therace as one of the favorites. She had cultivatedpowerful political relationships, andendorsement from the popular Sandersand a well-known law-and-order reputationwith voters. But her problems beganfrom the start.Dumanis’ most powerful message, herexperience and steady hand, took a hit earlyon when she fired her first campaign manager,reported lackluster fundraising totalsand flip-flopped on Proposition B.Fletcher’s endorsement by the city’s policeunion and other public safety groups madeit so that she couldn’t claim to be law enforcement’schoice for the job. And shestruggled to communicate a simple visionfor what she wanted San Diego to beunder her leadership.She tried to make San Diego’s flaggingK-12 public education system her signaturepolicy platform, even though the cityhas no control over schools. Dumanis succeededin making education a campaignissue, but again couldn’t sell her ideasenough to make it a dominant one. OnceFletcher’s independence play succeeded,her efforts to capture the traditional SanDiego middle fell short. Time and again,Fletcher supporters implored her to quitthe race.But Dumanis didn’t go out without afight. She showed feistiness in the campaign’slast few weeks that cut againstFletcher and Filner and put them on thedefensive.Fletcher Fights Back, But It’sNot EnoughMeanwhile, Fletcher was strugglingunder th weight of all the attacks. Despitehis fundraising prowess, Fletcher didn’thave enough money to chase the growingnumber of mail-in voters, maintain a consistentpresence on television and organizea get-out-the-vote drive on Election Day.Besides, while Fletcher’s independencemove was a stunning success at the time, ithappened 10 weeks before Election Day.Fletcher didn’t have a second act, somethingother campaigns noticed.“How does John DeLorean really followup the DeLorean with anything else?” saidRon Nehring, a Dumanis consultant. “Youhave a really cool car, but then what do youdo next?”Fletcher turned his attention to ElectionDay. The campaign targeted people whotypically don’t turn out in force for primaries:voters under 50, decline-to-states andmoderates from both parties.The election’s initial results showedFletcher five points behind Filner. And Filner’slead inched forward throughout thenight.But the election wasn’t about the middleor any one candidate who tried to courtmoderate support. Instead, the rules of alow-turnout primary held strong. EnoughRepublicans went Republican. EnoughDemocrats went Democratic. Everyoneelse didn’t vote.“You do everything you can to ward offgravity,” said Jennifer Tierney, a Dumanisconsultant. “But eventually, everything alwayshits the ground.”2 0S A N D I E G O M E T R O . C O M | J U LY 2 0 1 2 | 2 7 T H A N N I V E R S A R Y 1 9 8 5 - 2 0 1 2