So this is what a "3" degree of enthusiasm looks like.

Nick's contributors' list does not bode well for meaningful change. But anything's better than continuing the Reign of the Stennies.

I try to follow the same dress code.

Blue dress shirt for business attire. Grey t-shirt for everything else.

Accessorize (by adding sweaters, coats, hats) as necessary.

Black wingtips for work, white Nikes for play. Brown deck shoes for lounging. Socks come in two colors: black and white.

Nick may not add much fashion sense to City Hall, but he'll bring much needed common sense, and fiscal discipline, to the City Council.

A Fritz, Fish, Saltzman triumvirate might even help us avoid a municipal bankruptcy.

A Fritz, Fish, Saltzman triumvirate might even help us avoid a municipal bankruptcy.

Saltzman? You're kidding. He's the leading cause of the city's fiscal responsibility.

If they make it, Fritz and Fish may or may not bring the council to its senses. Fritz seems inclined to go along with the prevailing weirdness, so long as there's a year of process before each step. Fish has lots of backers among the usual suspects; it remains to be seen if he will follow in Fireman Randy's footsteps and go brain-soft after running as an Everyman.

I much prefer Charles Lewis.

I'm voting for Fish partly because he's smart, honest, and competent, and partly because I hate the way Erik Sten set up his chief of staff to succeed him. That kind of thing has got to be discouraged.

I expect most of those who have a chance at winning will play Everyman and then go brain soft, because that is how the game is played. When people get to the point that they can actually become council members, favors are owed. Those I prefer don't have much of a chance in this system. It is rare, imho, to find a really decent person who has a heart for the game once they come to understand it. But it is those rare people I want to support.