by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
The marathon has become a sprint.
A week from today, Jacksonville will know who will succeed John Delaney as the city’s sixth mayor since consolidation. For Republican candidate John Peyton, it’s been a long run. Of the two finalists, he’s been in the race the longest, raised the most money, got engaged, stayed as active as possible in the Gate Petroleum business and fended off the most criticism.
You’d think, with a week’s worth of campaigning left, Peyton would be tired. Think again.
“We don’t slow down. We pick up speed,” said Peyton. “The whole goal is to get out and meet as many people as possible, cover as much ground as possible. We are walking through businesses. [Gov.] Jeb Bush will be here Saturday and we have a major event at the Omni tonight [Monday]. Every day, every hour is booked.”
The only thing slowing down Peyton these days is a nagging cold.
“I’m going on,” he said. “I’ll work through it [the cold]. It’s more of an inconvenience and nuisance.”
Aside from meeting people and shaking hands, there’s not much Peyton can do personally before Tuesday’s general election. Television ads have been shot and radio ads taped and air time has been bought. However, Peyton’s advisors are handling the distribution of those ads. In fact, he pleads ignorance when asked how much of a media onslaught is planned.
“I’m not really sure,” said Peyton of exactly what will run and how often. “We have bought a lot of TV and radio, but I’ll also be doing a lot of door-to-door. We have some new ads coming with no negative advertising to date.”
Knowing every vote counts, Peyton is visiting everybody from the local coffee shop with eight people on the payroll to Southpoint businesses with several floors of employees.
“I am going to businesses of every size,” he said. “I was at an outfit at 7 a.m. this morning on the Southside with 20 employees. Later today, I have a walk through at MPS [Asset Management Corp. in Independent Square]. You name it. I’m going.”
And, even though he’d rather be home in bed right now, Peyton is enjoying himself. The campaigning and cold may be physically draining, but Peyton’s counting on adrenaline to get him through the election.
“The reception has been positive and I feel like I’ve got a lifetime to recover,” he said. “It feels good.”