And the Race is On

Even though they are not on the ballot this time (yes, don't forget to vote on June 3rd. It's silly, I know, but it's just whatchagottado.), the candidates for Oakland mayor are very busy. Not surprisingly (as "from the Land of Dah"), all of the candidates have three main, the-same priorities:

• Security, and we're not talking blankets and bedtime stories.
• Education, so why then do we have a separate school district with its own board?
• Jobs, jobs and jobs. Especially, high tech, high paying, low impact and green, all-at-the-same-time jobs. 

And what about that nasty budget stuff? Right...

Since each one's message and campaign literature all look, smell and sound the same, how do you know how to vote in November? Recently the candidates have been coming door-to-door: Jean Quan, Joe Tuman and Brian Parker have all shown up. For us, this approach just adds to the recycling pile and makes Princess the cat race for the back door. Otherwise, it's not that useful.

(As an aside, I think Jean Quan graduated with honors from the Look 'Em in the Eye and Shake that Hand Very, Very, Very Firmly Academy because she just mashed my hand. And I can say that the mangling started even before I said that I probably wouldn't be voting for her... )

But the house party we attended last week (not a fundraiser, only a forum) featuring Libby Schaaf was very informative. Yes, I knew the name, but since nothing else distinguished her from the other ones running, so what? Well, the what is that this format provided the time and space to ask questions and have them answered more fully. I mean, there was even talk about potholes and no one was joking. Yup, potholes, not potshots. (Thank you llana & Sam and Leslie & Gary.)

So I plan to go to these neighborhood house parties, attend those Meet the Candidates events and ask, listen and ask and listen some more. You might also want to try this strategy: trust me, it beats the heck out of getting your hand crushed.