Taipei's mayoral race is heating up as challenger Shen Bo-yang uses the incumbent's traffic-delay gaffe to hit him on city management, though the mayor still holds a comfortable lead.

• Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an showed up over an hour late to a campaign event in Yilan, blaming weekend traffic, and rival Shen Bo-yang turned it into an attack on his handling of city problems.
• Shen argued that traffic is a governance failure, saying Neihu residents have "lost their lives" to a decade of congestion and the mayor should focus on running the city.
• The two are also clashing over a tainted-cooking-oil food-safety scandal, with Chiang demanding an apology from President Lai Ching-te and Shen accusing him of neglecting his own city's food inspections.
• A new poll shows Chiang leading Shen by about 15 points, a gap that has narrowed sharply from the roughly 28-point lead he held in May.
• Wider tensions inside the opposition KMT are also in play, with a chaotic scuffle at a Hualien rally and criticism that the party underestimates Taiwan's voters.

Outlook: With about 105 days left before the vote, expect the food-safety fight and the tightening poll numbers to dominate the Taipei contest.