Lucy pulls away the football: Another 3rd district 3-way for November.

Geez, NAC is starting to feel profoundly marginalized. Are they trying to tell us something?

According to the July 4 edition of the Tribune, and contrary to all previous indications, there’ll be yet another three-way race in the 3rd council district. With the entry into the race of a Libertarian, incumbent Steve “36% Solution” Price will be gifted with his third chance in four career races to win an election by polling less than half the votes cast.

Where is Walt Kelly’s Pogo in our time of need?

While the article by reporter Eric Scott Campbell isn’t archived on-line as of this writing, here is an excerpt:

Days after the Floyd County Rpublican Party appointed Brenda Scharlow to oppose District 3 City Council incumbent Steve Price, a Democrat, in the Nov. 6 election, a Libertarian has joined that race.

Thomas Keister lives on Center Street near Bicknell Park in the city’s east side. He hasn’t run for office before.

Not so fast. Keister (sorry, but purchasing an on-line diploma doesn't make one a "Dr." any more than the Wizard of Westside's Bazooka Joe U. parchment makes him an expert on sewers) actually ran for sheriff last year, with this electoral eulogy offered by the Tribune’s Jennifer Rigg on November 9, 2006:

In the end, (Democrat Darrell) Mills received 12,490 votes with 49.9 percent of the vote while (Republican Frank) Loop received 12,056 and 48.1 percent of the vote. Libertarian candidate Thomas Keister had 503 votes.

Keister’s My Space site makes reference to a second county office run in the past, but is not specific, although it details his involvement with the world of championship wrestling.

Meanwhile, a self-penned Keister press release at Associated Content touts a presumably unscientific 8th precinct telephone poll that shows him losing resoundingly to Price, but with a higher level of support than the Republican candidate.

Wonderful.

The filing deadline passed without a challenger to 1st district incumbent Dan Coffey, and also blessedly was absent last-minute maneuvering by veteran 4th district thespian Larry Kochert. With 2nd district incumbent Bill Schmidt defeated by Bob Caesar in the primary, and pending the results of the general election, at least the council’s Gang of Four has been halved.

Can a Libertarian make a difference in the 3rd? Only if the 3rd is different from the 1st. Let's go back to the July 4 Tribune article:

Libertarian George McAfee ran for the District 1 City Council seat in 2003, earning 19 votes to incumbent Democrat Dan Coffey’s 841 and Republican challenger Richard Berryman’s 216.

That’s 2%.

By the way, we're prepared to consider candidate platforms for the fall election ... and reasonable offers for our houses.