There’s going to be a resurgence in Yellow Pages stock if we can get a conservative into the San Diego Mayor’s office this year. Both Dumanis and DeMaio are extolling the benefits of letting our fingers do the walking to save money on city government services.

At the house meet and greet a few weeks ago, DeMaio said “If you can find something the city’s currently doing in the Yellow Pages, it may make sense to ask for bids.” At the February 20 San Diego Tea Party meeting at Andre’s, Dumanis said “If you can look it up in the Yellow Pages and you can find the same service, I think we have to look at managed competition for that.”

Like me, Dumanis carries a copy of the Constitution in her purse everywhere she goes. She got a lot of applause for that at Andre’s!

Dumanis and DeMaio see eye-to-eye on most of the major issues facing San Diego: Dumanis supports the the Real Pension Reform 2012 ballot measure that DeMaio is pushing hard on. Dumanis also supports Proposition C from 2006 for contracting city services. Both DeMaio and Dumanis say that implementation is moving far too slowly and that they’ll push implementation forward as mayor.

DeMaio emphasis his on-the-ground work and grassroots efforts, as well as his skills as a business efficiency expert. Dumanis emphasizes her executive experience as City Attorney and skills as a lawyer.

Currently DeMaio is leading heavily in the polls, but if both of them walk like they talk, either will be a good mayor for San Diego. I lean heavily toward DeMaio because he has worked heavily both behind the scenes and on the ground for 2006’s Proposition C and for 2012’s Real Pension Reform.

He’s also focussed more directly on the financial issues facing San Diego, whereas Dumanis is focusing on her crime initiatives such as Jessica’s Law and her work with MADD. Her career is completely within San Diego’s city and county government, starting with her first job as a Junior Clerk Typist in the District Attorney’s office. She has also served as a judge and then came back to be San Diego’s District Attorney. It’s a compelling story, but also an insular one.

DeMaio’s story includes founding two private businesses: a training and management company (American Strategic Management Institute) and a think tank focused specifically on government reform (Performance Institute). From there he also has city government experience, having served on the City Council since 2008 and managed the passage of important ballot measures. He has released specific plans that can be critiqued during the election and used to measure his performance after the election. That will be far more important as San Diego puts its finances back on track.