NO SURPRISES: Thanks to everyone who answered the call and wrote a comment on my last post, while I was down South enjoying a real Spring and some real music. Doc and his friends put on quite a show. Where else could you see 82,000 people show up for a community college fundraiser?

And you know, Wilkesboro doesn't even have a convention center. Go figure.

Anyway, guys, thanks for the comments and don't take this the wrong way, but the first rule of essay tests is "Read the question carefully".

I asked: "What's going to be the biggest issue in the 2005 Cleveland Mayor's race that nobody's talking about... yet?"

You answered: Race. Jobs. Poverty. Regionalism. The lakefront. Too many council members. Who's got a vision.

You think these are "issues that nobody's talking about"? Hmmmm. People, you gotta get out more.

Steve Fitzgerald came closest to a qualifying answer with his nervous prediction of a "corruption" issue. It's true, no one is currently accusing any of our mayoral candidates of theft, bribery or being in Nate Gray's wedding party. But Steve, this would be a more satisfying proposition if it had a little more, um, meat on it, don't you think? Do you have something you'd like to share with the class?

Otherwise, if you all are right, this is going to be a really unsurprising campaign.

Oh well. On Saturday I learned that three country boys I'd watched in the public picking area Friday night, joshing with the Wilkes County EMS crew while playing bluegrass standards at heartstopping speeds, were really a headlining band from... Switzerland. Maybe that just used up my quota of surprises for the week.

(Thanks to Clevelander for the tip about Frank Jackson's new website.)
A