choosing sides

there's a mayoral election in november, so people are starting to pay a little attention to the several who are running --- the early front runner is mary norwood with whom i have been acquainted over the years --- although the election is non-partisan, party affiliation can be an issue --- according to wikipedia, there hasn't been a republican mayor in atlanta since nedom l. angier in 1877-79

mary has long been pegged as a closet republican with her red dresses and elegant buckhead address, but she's got a decent reputation on lbgqt and historic preservation issues --- in addition she has tended toward blue dresses these days, and i have marveled at the number of events of whatever sort at which she manages to show up and get herself photographed for facebook ---

but she also seems to have emerged as the latest "great white hope" for many people, especially on the north side, who never got over maynard and the succession of african american mayors who followed --- she posted the image here on her facebook page yesterday, but removed it a short time later, which was not before many had noticed --- karen handel on the right and what's-her-name county commissioner from the nether reaches of north fulton on the left --- norwood is gonna be "mayor for all atlanta," she says, which one of the comments pointed out was sorta dogwhistley in and of itself

with the changes in city demographics this century, it will be interesting to see how the mayor's race plays out --- however it does, race will always be a subtext ---