Race for Baltimore's City Hall

I usually don't touch local politics - not even with a 10 foot pole. Typically, its not worth the trouble, especially in Baltimore. I grappled with the decision to even blog about it, but I decided to go ahead and let you all into the drama that is local politics.

In my lifetime, I’ve experienced 5 different mayors with a billion different issues:

• One did lots of good for the city in the 1970s and 1980s, but turned into a hatred spewing bigot and a nut job toward the end of his political career.
  
  
• The next guy lasted less than one calendar year on the job.
  
  
• The guy after that completely fucked the city and played the race card like a fiddle to win his final term as mayor. he's currently serving as dean of Howard University's School of Law. Good luck with him.
  

• Martin O'Malley, former Baltimore City Councilman and current Governor of Maryland, probably did the best job of any mayor in my lifetime. He wasn't perfect, but he made good shit happen in the City of Baltimore and that's pretty much all I ask of anyone asking for the right to lead.

And then there's the incumbent and current mayoral front runner, Sheila Dixon. She's basically assured the job. She has 46% of the local vote; her nearest competitor has 19%.

I'll admit, I'm not a fan. Dixon is inarticulate and downright tacky (and ghetto) at times. Let's just say she's not really cut from a mayoral cloth - if you know what I mean. She's not revered by the people (at least not by me). She got the job because her boss went on to become the big boss in Annapolis and by statute, the City Council President assumes the role of Mayor in the event he resigns that post.

In fact, her claim to fame (aside from the sporadic nepotism scandal) is being the aunt of former Maryland Basketball standout Juan Dixon. But she's smart. She recognized that in order for her to get to the top, she had to ride the coattails of other people (read: Governor Martin O'Malley). She waited and waited and finally reached a point of power. Can't fault her for that.

Dixon's most immediate threat is Keiffer Mitchell - a relatively young scion to the Mitchell family's political dynasty. I like him better than Dixon, but I'm still unimpressed.

In true front runner fashion, both he and Dixon have been satisfied to hold onto the status quo and coast as far as possible without posing any real ideas. Unfortunately, the status quo in Baltimore is about ten pegs below absolutely unacceptable.

Normally, stage presence counts for a lot in politics and I'm willing to give credit to candidates who I feel can persuade and get things done, even if I prefer their ideas less than those of a less-persuasive candidate. In this case, however, not only do Dixon and Mitchell lack anything of substance, they also are no more captivating than those at the back of the race.

I'm open to hearing any ideas from anyone, but unfortunately it seems like several of our candidates are hoping to get through the campaign without proposing a single idea at all. That's why I'm not even bothering to vote in the September 11th coronation.