9 NOV 06: BIG CHIEF'S NOTES

Wednesday night marked the "fall finale" episode of "Lost." I didn't watch this show, so maybe you can help me - were Bob Poydasheff and Mark Taylor added to the cast?

Jim Wetherington sat down for victory interviews Wednesday, after winning the Columbus mayor's race. It looked to me like Mayor Poydasheff was gaining late momentum. But apparently voters saw through that news conference with the Little Leaguers -- and even in November, they refused to play "Bob for apples."

Mayor-Elect Wetherington tried to sound kinder and gentler Wednesday, telling the evening news Mayor Poydasheff has "done a good job." How the current mayor did that with a massive shortage of common sense, I'm not quite sure....

The incoming mayor also had suggested the incumbent was a "professional politician." Election night Tuesday should have disproved that. No professional politician nowadays calls his opponent to concede a race on live television.

Jim Wetherington spent most of Election Day at his campaign headquarters on Wynnton Road. So it's no wonder he voted in advance - he may have feared Bob Poydasheff supporters would attempt a takeover.

I was quite surprised Wednesday to find NO e-mail about Jim Wetherington's win from "IsOurCitySafe," the police backer (and some suspect an officer) who sent messages all over Columbus for two years about public safety. Maybe he's now sending his ideas to Jim Wetherington directly - or maybe he's angling to become the next mayor's news secretary.

Mayor-Elect Wetherington assured WRBL Wednesday he will NOT try to run the Columbus Police Department. But he also said he met with Police Chief R. Boren during the day. Perhaps the first act of the new mayor will be to announce one and for all - is it Rick Boren or Ricky?

Asked about the City Manager, the mayor-elect said he hopes Isaiah Hugley will stay - but added he doesn't know if that will happen. As long as Hugley's wife stays in safe Georgia House districts, I somehow think he will....

Jim Wetherington says he expected to do well in South Columbus - and while a breakdown of precincts shows he didn't finish first there, he took a lot of votes Bob Poydasheff gained in 2002. With the incoming mayor talking about the city's high crime rate, it's tempting to say he took the votes at gunpoint.

Bob Poydasheff says he's willing to serve as a "senior adviser" to the incoming mayor. But Jim Wetherington is already surrounded by "senior" advisers. Perhaps a grandchild will break the news to him that a Blackberry is more than a fruit.

Bob Poydasheff won the post-election quote of the day prize when he declared: "Eventually we're all gonna break these stupid lines, and realize we're one city." If it had happened this year, the North Columbus precincts would have voted him back into office....

Not all the candidates for Columbus Mayor slept in, on the morning after Election Day. As I drove home from an overnight shift, there was Bert Coker on WRCG's "TalkLine" -- rallying his 48 supporters, and starting the groundswell to be elected Muscogee County Sheriff in 2008. After all, he already has that cowboy hat....

For all the free publicity he gained at political forums and in the media, the Muscogee County Election Board counted 48 write-in votes for Bert Coker. Apparently the voters agreed with me about him being the "comedy relief" candidate. Coker rhymes with Joker, you know.

(It turns out this blog had several times more visitors on Tuesday than Bert Coker did votes. But please, before rumors start -- I will NOT run in Mayor in 2010.)

Appearing on his unofficial virtual campaign headquarters, Bert Coker told TalkLine at least he was willing to stick his neck out and run for office - even if that meant failing disastrously. So when Coker talked with me when I appeared in August to promote Power Frisbee, we had more in common than we realized.

We can extract other big losers from the Columbus mayoral race, besides Bert Coker. Talk radio gave Coker his platform on TalkLine, and offered Bob Poydasheff plenty of free time on WDAK's "Viewpoint" two weeks before the election. They turned out to be as powerful as - well, as powerful as WRCG's signal.

Two well-read Columbus newspapers endorsed Bob Poydasheff in the mayor's race, yet Jim Wetherington won. Once again, the Ledger-Enqurer's editorial board appears out of touch with the community. And you wonder who's giving the "Street Committee" at The Courier its advice.

Another hidden loser in the Columbus mayor's race is the "machine" of big business. Plenty of local executives backed Bob Poydasheff for a second term -- but this time, businesses such as the Foxy Lady Lounge somehow had more clout.

Yet not all of Columbus's big businesses were down in the dumps Wednesday. TSYS stock closed at a 52-week high of nearly 25 dollars a share. So when will the rumors start about this company moving to Atlanta?!

The Fraternal Order of Police can claim partial victory from Jim Wetherington's win. But its choice of Charles Weaver for Columbus Council didn't turn out well. Nathan Suber will face Jerry Barnes in a District 1 runoff - and after people read about Suber's vote against restoring a City Auditor, he has a lot of door-to-door explaining to do.

Another December runoff will find Mike Baker facing Tony Gaskins in District 5. Baker received just under 45 percent of the vote, which could have given him victory - and since he's an accountant, he probably knew he'd fallen short before anybody else did.

Cathy Vaughn Williams won a Muscogee County School Board, after what she admitted felt like "a four-year campaign." At least Williams was nice enough to pick up her yard signs Wednesday for TV cameras, instead of announcing she's seeking a second term.

Cathy Vaughn Williams lost to school board President Mary Sue Polleys in 2002 - but Williams says she's gained a lot of respect for Polleys over the last four years. For one thing, Williams must be stunned that Polleys didn't run any attack ads against NeighborWorks.

As for state races: did you see Sonny Perdue's post-election speech Wednesday night? Of all the places to find Georgia's Governor, he was on WYBU TV-16 - on Jerry Falwell's "Old Time Gospel Hour." This should shut up the critics, who doubt he's truly converted. To the Republican party, I mean....

Governor Sonny Perdue appeared in a taped sermon from Jerry Falwell's Virginia church, describing how God turned him away from living an "independent" life as a veterinarian in North Carolina. So he was independent even BEFORE he was a Democrat?!?!

Sonny Perdue's sermon-length testimony was basically an autobiography. The Governor said God kept blessing him in a farm-related business, even though middle Georgia had a drought for 10 out of 13 years. Hmmmm -- maybe he bought all that land because he knows there's oil underneath it.

Sonny Perdue used the Lynchburg, Virginia sermon to reflect on his first campaign for Governor. He says he had no interest in running in 2001-02, but felt God had told him to campaign and he had to be obedient. Who could have guessed Someone up there created not only the heavens and the earth, but the "Sonny-Do list."

By the way, did you notice Georgia and Alabama reelected Republican Governors - while the Democrats were making big gains from coast to coast? Does this mean our area still is really behind the times and backward?

SPAM-A-RAMA: What do you know -- an e-mail we found in our InBox Wednesday had the title, "LEFT-WING EVERYWHERE." We never knew President Bush and Karl Rove had our online address.

BIG PREDICTIONS: Based on this week's vote, it seems safe to predict the following:

+ Outgoing Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox will run for the U.S. Senate in 2008, and be the candidate to beat among Democrats. She might call Mark Taylor for help and support sometime late in 2007.

+ Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine will run for Governor in 2010. His campaign fund will pay whatever it takes to keep Senator Saxby Chambliss from returning home and running himself.

+ Gasoline prices won't plunge again for a long time. The oil companies now know that plot doesn't work at the polls.

Now while we rest the rhetoric until the runoff, let's check other news items from the last couple of days:

+ WRBL reported a judge has ordered Chattahoochee County to stop the creation of a police department. The criminals who are scared by the Columbus mayoral results now know where they can move.

+ WXTX "News at Ten" visited The Core club on Midtown Drive, which features music by Christian rock bands. One popular band is a group of ninth-graders called "One Last Summer" - which apparently refers to what they're doing, before they go out to find real vacation jobs.

+ Columbus High School catcher Adrian Thomas signed a letter of intent to play college baseball at Pennsylvania. Is he going to the Ivy League to play ball - or to train in making the really big money, as a business major and sports agent?

+ Hockey's Atlanta Thrashers came from behind to edge Ottawa 5-4 - and one of the Thrasher radio announcers said as a result, Ottawa fans "will be flipping over cars and starting fires." Are people THAT rowdy in the capital of Canada? Or do they simply torch cars between November and April to keep warm.

+ Instant Message to TitleMax: After seeing your commercial where the young woman raps, "Get your MUHH-ney" - I'm missing those political attack ads already.

Thousands of visitors read this blog every month, in Columbus and around the world. To advertise to them, offer a story tip or comment on this blog, write me - but be warned, I may post your e-mail comment and offer a reply.

BURKARD BULK MAIL INDEX: 4704 (+ 138, 3.0%; 2am revision)

If you mention this blog in public, please be polite enough to let me know.

© 2003-06 Richard Burkard, all rights reserved.