Opinion: Mayoral momentum

Pam Iorio's dominance in Tuesday's first-round vote for Tampa mayor reflects the broad appeal of her campaign. Iorio captured 46 percent of the vote in a five-way race, showing an impressive depth of support across racial, economic and partisan lines. Tampa voters clearly want a new direction and a new openness from their next mayor. That Iorio and Frank Sanchez, who captured second place, proceeded to a runoff over more familiar names also points to a desire for a chief executive who can move the city forward without pitting constituencies and neighborhoods against each other.

Having sold themselves as visionaries, above the bread-and-butter parochialism of longtime city pols Bob Buckhorn and Charlie Miranda, Iorio and Sanchez now need to move beyond the easy rhetoric and begin talking specifically about what kind of city they want. How would they better serve the neighborhoods, create new jobs and wealth and raise the city's profile nationally? Whom would they hire, and what standards would they bring? What differences in their characters or life experiences prepare one better than the other to lead Florida's third-largest city?

Iorio's depth of support gives her a huge advantage, but the March 25 runoff will be an entirely different race. In Tuesday's voting, Iorio drew heavily from Buckhorn in the city's black neighborhoods, which will turn out again in a runoff for City Council. The voting base is there, but Iorio needs to tighten her campaign organization if she hopes to mobilize runoff voters. Pam Power may have worked in the primary, but Iorio needs to fight complacency on the street the next few weeks. Her message and her years in local office are strengths, but Iorio needs to understand that Sanchez will be aggressive about courting the 54 percent who voted against her.

Sanchez needs to put some meat on the bones of this thing he calls a vision. Every mayor wants to build the economy -- the question for Sanchez is how he plans to do it, how he'd balance that larger goal with the immediate demands of running a city and why anyone should take a chance on him when an experienced hand shares his agenda.

Tuesday's primary result captured the face of modern Tampa politics. The million-dollar candidate is here, the myth of a monolithic black vote is gone and the political weight of middle-class Hispanics who shaped this immigrant city has been diminished. For all the spending records broken in this race, the candidates left standing for mayor are the ones the voters know the least about. Iorio and Sanchez are counting on name recognition, momentum and all the other things money can buy in politics. That makes it even more important for runoff voters to make an informed choice.

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