So now what can we expect these 38 days until early voting begins and the 57 days until Election Day? There will be the assortment of candidate forums, media stories, letters of support from the faithful, a plethora of campaign events and fund raisers, and probably very little to inspire a significant number of us to bother to vote in these important decision opportunities.
It is not unusual to hear charges and counter charges during a campaign, so I was only a little surprised to read the charges by mayoral candidate Cho about one of the questions at the Sierra Club of Orange-Chatham County (Read more here) We also have the politics of filling the Bill Strom seat that will play a role in the campaigns and "Voter Owned" Elections probably will too. Fiscal judgment looks like a topic of interest and Dawson Hall will most likely receive attention.
There will be other issues that bubble up and I'm sure there are those wondering how the various candidates will interact on the campaign trail. One thing that could be different is the role our under-staffed/resourced local media will play in this campaign and maybe an increased role of other technology like blogs, Facebook and Twitter.
What do you think?
Issues:
Comments
Best of Luck to Montgomery
I think this is a terrific development for Winston. The city struggles significantly to bring new faces, and particularly younger faces, into its leadership structure, and many of the same people seem to get elected for decades on end. He got his voters organized and to the polls. Good for him.
Another "Sign" Labor Day is Over
Another sign (pun intended) it's post-Labor Day is the proliferation of campaign signs. With 18 candidates campaigning in Chapel Hill, we should see the key intersections lousy with signs. Interesting that with all of the environmental rhetoric that we hear, many of the signs that I've seen so far are on metal stakes instead of wood. Does it matter?
It matters if you're the one putting them up. :)
To put up the signs with the wooden stakes you have to hammer the stake in and then staple the sign to it. With the metal ones you can jam them into the ground and keep running. Penny has both, so we used the wooden ones on the less busy roads where we felt safter taking more time. I felt like I was playing "High Stakes Real Life Frogger" at some of the busier intersections. I kept reminding myself that it was my last "man" and I didn't have any more quarters.We are re-using signs and stakes from 2007. A lot of the wooden stakes didn't make it. Does using a metal stake two times = using a wooden stake once in the great environmental equation?
I advised any one who asked me to use metal because...
it was really challenging to get wooden stakes into drought-hardened ground in the 2007 cycle. We tried cordless drills, mallets and, my personal favorite, a five-pound exercise weight. My stakes are stored in my attic and most likely will come out again in the 2011 cycle but I wouldn't recommend them for someone running for the first time.
Way more important
are the environmental policies that the candidates will support.Riding a bike to meetings, recycling at home, or using re-useable stakes - while nice little contributions - hardly constitute an environmental platform.
Behavior vs rhetoric
Personally, I don't believe rhetoric that isn't backed up by action/behavior.
Carrboro Elections
I went to the Orange Cty. website: we are having an election in Carrboro! Did the Carrboro Board of Aldermen pass an ordinance forbidding campaign signs? Is it too much to expect the candidates to actively seek your vote? I know there have been forums, but my schedule prevents my attendance. I know also that the papers give the forums some coverage, but it’s not complete. With a Saturday morning trip to the Farmers’ Market and then a few short carbon-less footsteps to the daily town forum at Weaver Street Market, the candidates have an easy opportunity to meet the voters. They could even do it more than once. Let’s air the issues. What about a debate between mayoral candidates @ the Town Common’s gazebo? How about the challengers tell us why we should vote for them rather than the incumbents. Did I miss all of this? Jack Haggerty
Scintillating observations
No shortage of critiques and what is wrong in your opinions, but I don't see any of you running or holding positive leadership positions. You try running for office and then take your pulse and temperature a few weeks later. You try leading your community in a US governmental position. It is not as fun or easy as it looks. With such humanity encompassing this progressive outlook, I would expect more tact from such a compassionate group of individuals.
I Find It Very Sad...
that this community seems to be so divided this year. I, for one, will be happy to see this election over. Unfortunately, the issues that are causing the divisions will not simply disappear after the election and the divisions may very well intensify. Very sad, very unfortunate.
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