Well, there you have it. After 15 weeks of carpeting bombing television, mail and radio, all Steve Francis has to show for it is fewer votes than his 2005 mayoral bid and fewer dollars in his bank account.

So, what got him from here to there to nowhere?  In a phrase,"FU Steve."

Jerry Sanders' brutally candid and honest assessment of what he thought about his opponent and how he was running his campaign. That turn of phrase kicked off the 2008 campaign and the mayor's race finally got the attention of the voters.

It had two major consequences. First, it's something we've all have said or wanted to say at some point when someone does us wrong. Sanders just had the guts to say it in response to weeks of seeing his record distorted on TV and in debates.

It jolted voters into wondering what all the fuss was about that would compel the mayor to say such a thing. When they tuned in and learned that Francis was not the right wing, no tax, conservative of 35 months ago but instead had 'evolved' to a left of center populist, they had to wonder what was up.

Second, it reminded us of what we liked about Sanders in the first place. He was more cop than candidate. It sounded like something an officer might say when his patience ran out with a smart-mouth hooligan.

To top it off, Francis went running to the press to say the mayor called him a bad word compared to Sanders brilliantly handled response by saying he did not say "FU Francis", he said "FU Steve." Francis looked whiney and Sanders looked like someone willing to tell it like it is. Finally, a politician not blowing smoke.

So the voters started to pay attention and Francis' $1.3 million head start vanished.  Game on.

Couple that with good news from Standards and Poor on the city's credit rating, along with the Attorney Generals office exonerating Sanders in the Sunroad fiasco, and just like that we had a race.

In the end, most voters just didn't connect with Francis, who reminded them more of 'Richey Rich', the poor little rich kid, who just wanted to be liked. But unlike Richey, Steve was willing to spend whatever it took to make friends and the voters weren't buying. One more high financed campaign on the trash heap of San Diego history.