Elections: Voter, Candidate Fatigue?

Last night I stopped by The Contented Cow for its first of two candidate forums, which featured the city's At-Large and mayoral candidates.

Joining me were my wife, Ariel, and our soon-to-be 9-month-old daughter, Lucy. Given that Lucy's bedtime was about the time daddy wanted to start on his second pint, we left shortly before 8 p.m.

In that first hour, we watched Councilor Betsey Buckheit and candidate David Ludescher, both aiming to capture the At-Large seat for the next four years, talk about various issues, including downtown parking, the much-discussed Safety Center/police station project and the working relationships of the council.

There were about 15 or so people at the Cow while I was there. On Wednesday, there was a Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce forum for legislative and county commissioner candidates. That drew about 20 people.

Northfield is both blessed and cursed.

While it's great that there are many, many forums for folks to hear from candidates (more on that below), the fact that there are so many may be hurting the turnout of these events. Not only might there be voter fatigue because of the many forums, literature, door-knocking and media coverage, the candidates are visibly tiring.

I met with just about every Northfield candidate (state, county, city and school board) the past two weeks for videos Patch will start running next week. Many of the candidates talked about the commitment needed to run for various positions, which included the aforementioned forums, media requests both local and beyond (interviews, Q&As, videos) and then that little thing called campaigning all the while maintaining a somewhat balanced life. Remember, all these positions are meant to be part-time gigs. Needless to say, I think many of these folks look forward to Nov. 7.

Regardless of how you may feel about these individuals and their views, let's all pause and appreciate the effort these men and women are putting forward to represent us. It's no small feat these days to raise your hand, asked to be criticized for decisions you may or may not have made, and do it with a smile (or at least a half-smile). 

That said, continue to read (and watch) about the candidates on Northfield Patch. Also be sure to check out Northfield.org, Northfield News, Locally Grown Northfield, KYMN and the League of Women Voters to get a more complete picture. As I often say, we won't have everything. No one media outlet will. So get yourself educated.

And for those interested in attending one of the remaining forums, here's a schedule:

• 7:30 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 23, at The Grand: Northfield Chamber of Commerce Candidate Forum for local candidates.
• 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 25, at the Northfield Senior Center: League of Women Voters Candidate Forum for Rice County Commissioner Districts 1 and 2 candidates.
• 7-9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, at The Contented Cow: Candidate Question Time at The Contented Cow—II for Second and Third Ward candidates.
• 8:45-10:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 26, at Northfield High School: Mayor's Youth Council Candidate Forum for school board candidates.