Toronto voters may have to hunker down with embattled Mayor Rob Ford for another year

Just how are Toronto voters reacting to the slow-motion train wreck that is Mayor Rob Ford after the latest revelations about his bizarre behaviour?

Judging by Twitter, calls for his resignation are juxtaposed with die-hard supporters who seem unfazed by things like an over-refreshed Ford steaming through a neighbourhood festival last week, or paying a late-night call to a local lockup outside visiting hours in a vain attempt to see a friend with criminal connections.

[ Related: Mayor Rob Ford tried to speak with inmate in late-night visit to Toronto jail ]

Since he mobilized "Ford Nation" to become mayor of Canada's largest city in 2010, Ford has been dogged by controversy almost constantly.

Blowing off council meetings to coach his amateur football team, nearly being turfed over a conflict of interest involving lobbyist donations to his football charity, using city hall staffers as football coaches, allegations of drug use (supposedly caught on video) and instances of public drunkenness, being photographed with alleged gangsters, published claims that his brother, Coun. Doug Ford, dealt drugs when they were young, court documents showing Ford's home was invaded by his sister's drug-addicted boyfriend who demanded money from the mayor.

The list, by no means exhaustive, goes on.

[ Related: Rob Ford held to higher standard than any other politician: deputy ]

But Ford, who burns through staffers burned out by the constant eruptions, remains unabashed. He blew off concerns about his drunken behaviour at the Taste of Danforth festival Friday night, admitting he'd had "a couple of beers."

His supporters apparently also think it's no big deal.

Others do think Ford, who vows to stand for re-election in the fall of 2014, should go.

But Toronto Star columnist Heather Mallick probably speaks for a lot of Toronto residents who realize they're stuck with Ford for the duration.

The thing is, if none of the above has been enough to send the villagers armed with pitchforks and torches streaming to Nathan Phillips Square to demand Ford quit, nothing short of criminal charges will.

Voters know who Ford is. A man of appetites. A man of secrets. A wilful man. Although he's accused the Star of having it in for him, all three Toronto newspapers, including the conservative-oriented Sun, now have published damaging disclosures about him. Yet he hunkers down.

The Sun noted last June polling showed Ford's popularity actually rose in the wake of reports of the notorious (and never publicly seen) crack video first surfaced in the Star and Gawker.

Forum Research found Ford's approval rating jumped five points a week after the scandal broke as respondents felt he was focusing on issues they felt were important to the city, the Sun said.

National Post columnist Matt Gurney, while suggesting Ford's shadowy connections to the drug world are a concern, wrote Monday that voters are probably brushing off the latest public drinking episode.

"Not because this wasn’t a worrying incident," said Gurney. "But because it’s small potatoes compared to everything else the mayor has going on."

Gurney went on to describe Ford's pattern of spontaneous bad behaviour, which one former staffer called the "late-night red alert."

[ More Brew: ‘Let’s go party,’ Mayor Rob Ford demands in street festival video ]

"But it’s not nearly as bad for the mayor politically as many of his opponents would wish," he wrote. "By any normal standard, an apparent binge-drinking problem would be a bad thing for a political figure.

"But to use a term favoured by stock brokers, the public has already 'discounted' the mayor’s history of alcohol-related incidents."

CBC News observed Ford deals with an unprecedented level of "social media paparazzi." Ford can't appear in public without batteries of smart phones being whipped out to record his activities. Multiple videos of his Danforth foray were posted almost immediately.

That repeated bouts of documented public drunkenness aren't Ford's biggest problem is by itself a stunning realization. Other things lurk in the weeds that, if they're ever confirmed, could truly end his political career.

Failing that, voters will get to pronounce judgment on his tenure in just over a year, assuming he runs.