Finally, somebody held, and recorded, a political forum to which all of the Portland mayoral candidates were invited. It's here. It has its highs and lows, but it's far more revealing than the soundbite competitions that you typically get from a half-hour with just the "Big 3."

They did the City Council, too. The Nurse Amanda race is here; the Steve Novick race is here.

We came away from the forum with a couple of names to add to our list of viable alternatives to business as usual at City Hall. One of Novick's challengers, Scott McAlpine, looks pretty good. He's first up on that video. In the mayoral race, we'd add Bill Dant, also first up, to our list with Scott Fernandez and Max Brumm.