"It really seemed to come down to a difference in style," Clark said. "The voters seemed to want someone who was going to stand up and fight for them. They are going to see a lot of hard work from me this term."

At stake was more than just who gets to represent Ward 9, a sprawling strip of land that could almost stand as a microcosm of the city. It mixes industry, an aging downtown in Stoney Creek, farmland and an algae-like bloom of subdivisions in a ward that includes both upper and lower city.

The race was also widely seen as former provincial cabinet minister Brad Clark's attempt to secure a beachhead for the real prize in 2010 -- the mayoralty.

Clark, who cut his political teeth here in Stoney Creek during the Taro landfill battles, and served as an effective transport and labour minister for the Tories for three years before being swept out of office in the 2003 red tide, thought hard about running for mayor, but decided on a more modest re-entry to the local scene, announcing he'd be more comfortable running in Ward 9. Article continues....

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