Dayton, Ohio elects a European as Mayor, shocking the urban Democratic machine

Underdog struck in a giant way in the Mayor's election in Dayton, Ohio last week, as this sleepy Midwestern rust belt city that has bled economically for almost 30 years elected a European Mayor, Independent Gary Leitzell.

Leitzell, a neighborhood association president and first-time office seeker upset two-term incumbent Rhine McLin, whose political name has been huge in the Dayton area for more than four decades, as her father C.J. McLin was a hugely influential State Senator in the 1960s and 70s.

But a tough economy in a city teeming with urban blight from its closed factories and more than 3,000 vacant homes - along with a hard working campaign and a last minute series of relentless and brilliant youtube commercials produced by an iconoclastic local artist and made viral on a local basis - brought down a political machine.

Most amazingly though, Leitzell was outspent 127k to 12k. That's right. He only spent 15k and won an election in a fairly large American city.

Leitzell, a small businessman and home renovator, could be one of the most interesting figures
on the political scene in some time. In a city with a strong Southern and Appalachian Heritage, Leitzell, who grew up in London, England, pulled the upset of Dayton political history with his win as mayor.

A European with a preference for French Art Deco, Leitzell holds progressive and conservative views, as well as a social libertarian streak.