Wait! There's an election coming up?

The telephone call waiting for me on the answering machine was one of those political "robo-calls" — prerecorded messages from political candidates urging me to vote for them. The announcement pointed out that early voting starts tomorrow. I had hardly noticed.

How life has changed since I left journalism! Just as a parent's life revolves around a school calendar, an editor's life revolves around the political calendar. I used to make note not only of the big dates — the beginning and ending of the filing period and the primary and general election dates — but also the little-noticed but newsworthy dates, such as the campaign finance reporting deadlines. Those generated some of our best coverage. And although my life-long interest in politics has barely dimmed, my involvement in the process has fallen off sharply. For the first time in decades, I can't tell you who the candidates are for county commissioner, sheriff and state legislature. When I was with the newspaper, I would be shocked at the number of people who didn't read the paper and would wonder how they functioned, as nearly oblivious as they were, as voters in a democratic society. Unless you read the paper closely, and unless the newspaper takes seriously its obligation to present political news factually and objectively, it's difficult to know whom to vote for or even who's running, especially on the local level.

Before May 4, I'll have to educate myself on the candidates for office in the primary, and I may, for the first time in my life, vote "early." My new job involves a hurricane drill on primary election day, so I may be too busy to get to the polls. But I'm wondering whether the folks at state Emergency Management were making a political statement in scheduling a mock hurricane to strike the N.C. coast on primary day.

Candidate forum takes unexpected turn

The Wilson City Council election just got more interesting. The odd-year political season had just settled into its usual dull tradition when candidates from other districts took over what was supposed to be a candidate forum for District 5, one of the rare hotly contested district races. But it was Bill Darden and George Pope from Districts 7 and 6, respectively, who got the most publicity from the forum. Darden asked the audience to ignore news reports about his problems that led to his house arrest. Then Pope told the audience that he didn't like the city he was seeking to govern. "I did not want to be in Wilson, but I was not going to let them run me off, either," he said, according the Wilson Times.

Let's see if I've got this straight: "My fellow citizens, I don't like it here, but vote for me anyway and I might stay." Hmmmm. At least it's a different strategy.

Perhaps Pope was trying to outdo Councilman James Johnson III, who lashed out during a council meeting earlier this month at citizens who come before City Council with complaints. "We have the same angry people at every meeting making the same stupid comments," he was quoted in the newspaper. That "stupid" comment led to a nasty letter to the editor that accused City Council of ignoring the concerns of poorer east Wilson.

Johnson has an advantage over Pope, however. Having been re-elected in 2007, Johnson, who represents District 4, won't face voters for another two years. Memories are short, so chances are the "stupid" comment won't be a factor in 2011.

The real losers this month were the interested voters of District 5, who came out to hear candidates' views, only to have their district forum hijacked by candidates who are not on their ballot.