Will Toronto mayoral candidates finally play the crack card against Rob Ford?

If you watched any of the Toronto mayoral debates last week, you would have noticed that all the front runner candidates — not named Rob Ford — seemed averse to the words 'crack' and 'alcoholism.'

During the first debate, on City TV, John Tory and Olivia Chow made some veiled comments about Ford as a 'role model' but didn't directly mention his admitted drug use or episodes with alcohol.

At the second debate at Ryerson University, on Tuesday, Tory ranted about Ford's association with 'gang types' but again didn't mention the 'c-word'.

To the average viewer that seemed strange: Why were candidates avoiding the issue — an issue that they could presumably score big points on? Why weren't candidates playing the crack card?

In an interview with the Toronto Sun, on Saturday, Tory claimed that he's not going to change his ways saying that he will not attack Ford with regard to his personal demons.

"I said repeatedly when I was on radio that I thought those were personal issues, and that they are serious personal issues that do impair the ability of anybody to do a job like mayor," Tory, the former radio talk show host, said.

"But they are personal issues, whereas I think when you hang around with criminals...these are issues that I think are fair game to be talked about in the context of his fitness to continue do the job."

[ Related: Rob Ford says crack scandal is ‘rewind, rewind, rewind’ ]

An Olivia Chow supporter suggests that there is a good reason for Ford's opponents to avoid the 'crack' scandal. On his website, Sun News analyst Warren Kinsella wrote that maybe its the public who want candidates to focus on other issues.

"In addition, I also suspect the research shows that the media’s ongoing preoccupation with crack, to the exclusion of any other issue, is one of the reasons why voters still cast a sympathy vote for Rob Ford."

[ Related: Toronto mayoral debate: Who won, who lost? ]

Political communications expert Marcel Wieder concurs.

"If one of Ford's opponents raises the issue, the Mayor has a canned response of, 'I wasn't elected to be perfect, I was elected to clean up the mess at City Hall,'" Wieder, President of Aurora Strategy Group told Yahoo Canada News.

"Then he can parry with, 'my personal problems have not cost the city one job, show me a firm that closed or picked another city over Toronto because of my personal situation,' and then the closer, 'high taxes and waste have more impact on why companies choose other cities than Toronto and I have a proven record of lowering taxes and fighting waste.'

"So for an opponent to attack him on personal issues it gets very tricky."

[ Related: The political genius of Rob Ford’s ‘billion-dollar’ savings claim ]

Whether the strategy — to avoid the crack issue — is a good one or not remains to be seen.

A Forum Research poll conducted after the first debate suggests Ford handily won the debate and has actually improved his approval rating.

"Among the three quarters of Toronto voters who recall seeing or hearing anything about the City TV debate (75%), close to 4‐in‐10 agree Rob Ford won (37%), while about 3‐in‐10 think Olivia Chow was the winner (28%)," notes a Forum press release.

Wieder has this advice for Chow and Tory.

"What we have yet seen from any of the other candidates is a clear vision and alternative to the Ford message track," Ford is masterful in staying on message and repeating his lines (which mostly consist of half truths)," he said.

"Until someone offers up a concise, relevant response Ford will continue to score points."

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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