National Merit Semi-Finalists

Back in high school, I was a National Merit Semi-Finalist. Not a Finalist, a Semi-Finalist. That's actually tougher to do than make it to the next round. Something like 80-90% of Semi-Finalists become Finalists, and at my school I was the only SF in my year, the year before me, or the year after me to accomplish that (that's about 1 in 40).

So that's my spin. Bexley High School has six NMSFs this year, most of whom will eventually become finalists (only 6, you say? Well, so say I as well, but I have a hypothesis... 5 of the 6 are boys, and I think that some of BPS's creme gets skimmed off and lands up at Broad and Drexel...). I happened to notice that Bexley High School's resident mayoral candidate wasn't on the list. Not a big deal, but it could have gone onto his campaign lit. Which got me wondering... Are any of our mayoral candidates National Merit Scholars? Would it be strange if none were? If anyone knows of a mayoral/council candidate who was a National Merit Scholar/Finalist/Semi-Finalist, or heck, even Phi Beta Kappa in college, drop me a line.

Off-Line Comments

I got a note from Bill Harvey today. Earlier today, I saw his competitor John Brennan going door-to-door on Euclaire and I pointed him out to my wife, who had missed his visit. When we got home, she read the Brennan lit and said something to the effect of "Parks and Rec, huh? That's as good a background as any, isn't it?" And I concurred. Something started nagging at me then, and it came to the surface when I got the email from Mr. Harvey - I've been a bit less than fair.

See, Mr. Harvey wrote to let me know that he did not leave the anonymous comment directing me to put up a link to his website, and that he would have, in fact, asked nicely. For the record, I never really thought it was him. I've had a bit of interaction with him now, and he has never been anything but polite, so I believe that part, too. I can certainly see, however, how anyone reading that post might have thought that I was trying to imply that he left the comment.

How does this relate to John Brennan? When my wife asked which one he was, I responded "the one with all the girls in t-shirts," not "the former Bexley Parks and Rec Director."

So far, as I've been following and writing about the municipal races, I've been following the Print/TV model of covering the horse race, rather than the issues. This allows the commentator to maintain a certain neutrality as to the caliber of the candidates as potential officeholders, by limiting opinions to the candidates in their role as candidates.

In my role as a blogger, I sometimes take advantage of the general perception of bloggers as bottom-feeding journalist wannabes to act like, well, a bottom-feeding journalist. I'm not above a bit of dehumanization. These folks running for office, however, are my neighbors. And furthermore, if I'm going to tease them, even simply as candidates, I should make sure my aim is a bit better.

So, Mr. Brennan, Mr. Harvey, I apologize. I'm still going to have fun writing, and I'm sure I'm still going to end up saying some things that I'll wish I'd said differently, but I will try to do at least a bit better.

John Edwards in Columbus - Cheap.

John Edwards is coming to Columbus next week to do a fundraiser at $15 per ticket. Reservations can be made at that same link. Cheaper than a Hannah Montana ticket, and almost as likely to sell out.

Some Mayor Update Stuff

The Bexley Democratic ward captains are apparently meeting tonight to decide on an endorsement among the three Bexley mayoral candidates who are seeking it: Minckler, Jones, and Harvey. I tried to wrangle an invite, but the meeting is an understandably private affair. On Wednesday, the Franklin County Dems* will be announcing endorsements for municipal races throughout the county. I'm not expecting high drama, but I am going to try to be there.

Speaking of Dem #3, Bill Harvey, I received a request (well, I'll take it as a request... I certainly understand the tone given the context, and there was a mix-up with some prior email, but even bloggers prefer to be asked politely. ahem.) to put up the link to the Harvey for Mayor Website, so I will do so shortly. In the meantime, every candidate seems to say that they plan to knock on every door in Bexley. Well, the race to be the first to knock on bonobo's door is over, and the winner is: John Brennan. Matt Lampke may have multiple rounds of mailings, Bill Minckler may have had more face time, and the younger candidates will probably end up with more free media, but Brennan has the teenage girls and the golden-shoe-leather award.




*I've made some snide comments about the FCDP website in the past, and even made some pretty negative inferences based upon the lack of contact/outreach I've perceived. They've got a new website, and a new executive director. Things are looking up. Here's hoping for a county party worthy of its supporters.