On The Sly

Yesterday we went to the polls to vote on Primary Day. The turnout was disappointing to me. Can it be that only 953 Republicans had time to vote on who their candidate would be for our city's mayor? You can add in some of the other 170 absentee ballots, which may be divided between Republican and Democratic voters, and you have around 1000 Republicans in our fair city who found time to cast a ballot.

I knew the battle for the Republican nod would be close. I've never been one to make political predictions, and whenever I was asked about the upcoming vote my standard reply was, "I think it will be very close." At the present time with Don Kasprzak ahead of Mike Drew by 109 votes, it looks at though Donnie K will challenge the Democrat's candidate, Kevin Duniho, for the big chair in the Common Council chambers.

Primary Day morning was my every-other-week talk with Corm and the Coach on Champ 101.3 FM radio. Corm asked me about the outcome and I volleyed his question with my standard "close" reply. However, at the end of the ten-minute discussion, the smooth-talking Corm, veteran interrogator that he is, asked me for a prediction on the mayoral primary. "Kasprzak will win it in a close one," I predicted. I wish I'd been as good at picking the horses at Saratoga last month. I don't think I'm ready to challenge Jeanne Dixon or Karnack the Magnificent in the prognostication category, but I did call that one right. I just wish more people in the city would have cared.

I hope that this setback won't turn Mike Drew away from the political arena. He has been a great representative of the Ward One residents, and he is young enough to serve the city for many years. I think he has a lot to offer, and, remember, whoever wins this year's November race will serve the one year left behind by Mayor Dan and then have to run all over again. Drew could be back, because we know there are at least 422 Republicans who say, "I like Mike."

I think the most interesting voter results on Primary Day came out of Beekmantown where Susan Castine defeated Conway Gagnier by a count of 5 to 2 for the town justice spot on the Independent and Conservative lines. Was something else going on in Beekmantown yesterday to prevent more residents from voting? Or, perhaps there are only 7 enrolled in the Independent Party and Conservative Party in Beekmantown. Still, Conway can tell his buddies that he only lost by three.

So now it's on to November. Good luck to all the candidates, and we'll be watching!