Newstradamus

Larry Wright/The Detroit News

For me, like many political junkies, this started out like a dream year: Wide-open presidential races in both parties, with different types of candidates for every political bent.

It got even more lively when the front-runners, Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton, began to develop cracks in their pedestals. It was like the great line from Bette Davis’ character, Margo, in “All About Eve”: “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”

Two and a half months into the primary season, however, and the campaign has many of us reaching for our air-sickness bags. The bumps are turning into screaming death spirals, with charges and counter-charges about race, religion, money and fear squeezing out crucial issues such as war, economy, health care and immigration.

And it’s not just the Democrats who seem to be trying to self-destruct. While halftime in the attempted neo-con evisceration of John McCain, no doubt the second half will begin before long.

Is it just me, or is all this election’s positive appeal being swiftly replaced by a sense of impending dread, no matter what one’s political hopes are? It wasn’t that many weeks ago that I looked forward to a long and stimulating campaign. Now I just want it to be over.

What better time to start thinking about our local elections, which promise to be every bit as lively as the national contests without (we hope) the ugliness.

In 2006, the biggest local issue was the Balloon Tract, which came into play in both the races for Eureka City Council and Humboldt County Board of Supervisors. This year, a main driver of the supervisor contests will be the General Plan update, which seems to be coming to a head after many years in the waiting.

The Times-Standard launched its in-depth county election coverage last week with overviews of those who filed for the three supervisor seats up for grabs this year.

Dairy farmer John Vevoda is challenging incumbent Jimmy Smith, a former commercial fisherman, in the First District.

The three-way Second District contest in Southern Humboldt pits incumbent Roger Rodoni against former radio news director Estelle Fennell and Clif Clendenen of Clendenen’s Cider Works.

Registration for the Third District seat was extended after incumbent John Woolley decided not to run for re-election. So vying in another three-way race are financial adviser Bryan Plumley, Arcata City Councilman Paul Pitino and environmental activist Mark Lovelace.

In the June 3 primary, a candidate can win outright if he or she gets more than 50 percent of the vote. Otherwise, the top two vote-getters will be in a runoff on Nov. 4.

Between now and then, the Times-Standard will be examining the issues and candidates from many different directions to help voters make their decisions. And we’ll be asking our readers to help us.
In the meantime, I hope with a little fresh air the current queasiness about the national race will pass.