I've apparently been too interested in the bizarre politics of coalition building at 10 Downing Street to have paid attention to future of leadership at City Hall. Kevin Bargnes, the incoming editor-in-chief of the Badger Herald (congrats on new job!), posted this on the Herald's website:
In an interview a few days back, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said he expects to run for reelection, but won't make a formal announcement any time soon.
"I won't make a final decision on that or an announcement on that until after Labor Day," he said. "I love the job, I'm having a good time, obviously there's a lot of interesting stuff to work on. High-speed rail, RTA, some of the other stuff we've been working on."
If Mayor Dave has any interest in keeping the job, it would probably be stupid for him to say otherwise. Any suggestion that he's not running again would stir up interest among potential candidates, some of whom would build name-recognition and be viable even if Cieslewicz does run. Despite the criticism-a-plenty against Mayor Dave in politically-active circles, he (unscientific assessment) has good name recognition and a generally positive reputation among Madisonians. The Democratic Party supports him and he holds liberal enough positions that people generally think of him as a good dude. That is Madisonian logic for you.
Any ideas for potential challengers? A lot of people suspected Ald. Michael Schumacher has ambitions, although he has steadfastly rejected the allegation. Then there was talk of Zach Brandon, the former alder best known for his proposals to cut city spending.
Otherwise, it's hard to say. A Republican in the mold of former candidate Ray Allen clearly can't win, however, there don't seem to be any potential candidates emerging from the Progressive Dane sector either.
