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Politics

South Tampa helps carry Mulhern to citywide win

It's where she lives and it enables her to beat a better-funded, eight-year council member.

By JANET ZINK and BILL COATS
Published March 8, 2007

TAMPA - Fewer than 600 voters gave Mary Mulhern her first political win when she defeated eight-year City Council veteran Shawn Harrison.

Mulhern's victory Tuesday in a citywide seat came even though Harrison raised four times more money, and used pricey television ads to get out his small government, lower taxes message.

Ultimately, Mulhern, who campaigned on protecting the environment and controlling growth, won the race by taking politically active South Tampa, where she received 1,364 more votes than Harrison.

And in South Tampa, where voters were inundated with campaign materials from candidates in the contentious District 4 race, voter turnout reached 21 percent, despite a citywide turnout of less than 16 percent.

"It got down to South Tampa turnout, and they voted for someone they knew better," said political consultant Bob Buckhorn.

Mulhern lives in South Tampa, and had just finished knocking on doors to solicit votes for her failed run for a Hillsborough County Commission seat.

Harrison has represented North Tampa on the City Council for eight years, but he was relatively unknown in the rest of the city. He had to spend much of his time introducing himself, Buckhorn said.

"Shawn needed a high turnout in New Tampa to compensate for his lack of name recognition every place else," Buckhorn said.

And the district didn't deliver. Although Harrison won North Tampa by 943 votes, turnout was only 9 percent.

"We knew it was going to be South Tampa where it all came down," said Mulhern's campaign manager, Mitch Kates. "In the end, for South Tampa they really do care about stormwater and infrastructure. When you run on 'I'll you cut your taxes,' that's not enough anymore. People want to be able to drive home safely when it rains."

With less money to work with, Mulhern's campaign directed it to e-mail, blogs and targeted mail pieces.

"We had to laser focus," Kates said. "Because we didn't have a lot of money, we had to stay on message."

Kates sent mailers to South Tampa that pointed out Harrison's vote against a stormwater fee increase to pay for drainage improvements. He sent mailers about congestion to New Tampa.

Harrison used his healthy campaign war chest - it topped $210,000 - to buy expensive ads on network television.

Buckhorn said it appeared to him that Harrison and his supporters, who include former Mayor Dick Greco, were setting their sights on a mayoral run for Harrison in 2011.

"You can't run for mayor without winning City Council first," Buckhorn said. "They didn't seem to take Mary seriously."

Harrison said Wednesday he's eager to spend more time focusing on his family and law practice, areas of his life that have been neglected since he announced his candidacy almost a year ago. But he plans to jump back into the fray at some point.

"I enjoy serving and I'd like to do it again in some fashion," he said. "This is not the last time that I will run for elected office."

Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or 813 226-3401.

[Last modified March 8, 2007, 06:03:00]