Whirlwind

It has been, unsurprisingly, an utter whirlwind these past few days. I have a moment to catch my breath this morning but not for long.

Nomination day at city hall is everything I was told: eclectic, loud, schmoozy, and altogether fun. It was nice to run into a number of the councillors who I’ve worked with on either U-Pass or community league advocacy. After filing the papers, it’s official that there are four of us running in the ward.

Most of the media was for the mayoral race and some of the more animated fringers in the council races. We managed to be in the background of much of the TV coverage, but the talking head bit will have to wait. I did land in the Sun however with a nice nod from Graham Hicks:

Candidate registration deadline day at city hall (9 to noon yesterday) is a bit like a school reunion. The meeting room is filled to the rafters with candidates for the city elections on Oct. 15 and their supporters, all yakking away to whomever will listen. …

Another surprise, candidate Don Iveson may be a keeper in Ward 5 (southwest). He’s not likely to win against incumbents Mike Nickel and Bryan Anderson, but he’s young, polished and sets himself up for the next civic election in 2010.

Polished is good. I’ll take polished. Just need to get the word out that there’s no good reason for the electors of Ward 5 to wait until 2010 to send me to city hall on their behalf.

Meanwhile, signs have been flying out the door, and volunteers are moving the literature out to Edmontonians’ doorsteps at phenomenal speed. I’m quite lucky to have a number of joggers who are mixing exercise with civics.

I helped one group finish up in Rhatigan Ridge on Sunday and ran a few dozen myself. I ran into a nice woman doing the crossword on her patio and she was impressed that I was quite literally running for office. The only downside is that I’ve lost at least 15 pounds since we took the picture, so it’s an increasingly dated likeness.