GOP targets Council races
The Republicans are running a full state of 9 candidates, while the Democrats could only muster up 7. I previously speculated the Democrats were playing the numbers that they felt they could not beat the all 3 of non-Democrats, only betting on defeating 2 of them. In the case of the GOP I think they are still smarting from 2001 when they only put up 5 candidates, and did not field a candidate for mayor. I would bet that at best 1 non-incumbent will make it out of the 7 challengers. Sam Malone is the best known candidate, but his association with the CCV and their anti-gay campaign will be a factor that will not win the moderate voters, who might be turned off by the Democrats. The Charter Party is still a factor, but their ability to be a third party has been limited in recent years. I will be interest to see if any of the many expected independent candidates will get party endorsements from either the Greens or Libertarians.