Quartet of unendorsed at-large council hopefuls: Baird.

Last week, NAC surveyed the November 8 slate of at-large council candidates, including three each from the two major political parties. We found incumbent John Gonder (D) to be the best and most obvious pick, with Kevin Zurschmiede (R; incumbent) also serviceable. We remain unimpressed with the four remaining aspirants, and are inclined to vote for only these two, but there'll be a third seat holder whether we like it or not. Assuming Gonder and Zurschmiede pass through, who will the other winner be?

Perhaps it will be Shirley Baird, who was defeated in the 2007 at-large primary by a whisker before claiming third place in this year's springtime culling of candidates.

She's attended numerous council meetings and maintained a blog, although curiously, her blogging largely ceased when the 2011 political season began. A Facebook page has been maintained with occasional postings. Rather, Baird has enthusiastically emulated Bud Frump and pursued her seat the old-fashioned way, through the rapidly decaying but still periodically functional labyrinth of the internal Democratic Party structure, which almost certainly implies her dropping any strongly felt viewpoints in favor of the tried-and-true Dixiecrat backscratching preferred by behind-the-scenes, supposedly Democratic local power brokers.

Speaking personally, in all the years I've been reading Baird's blog postings and observing her council interactions, my viewpoint has not changed. Contrary to what she probably believes, I both like and respect her as a person, and she has come perilously close on numerous occasions to grasping the bigger local picture, only to fall safely back into ideological trappings of StevePriceIsm when the final bell rings. I wish she could make it over the top in terms of political stances, and yet I doubt she will.

You may feel differently. If so, let us know.