You are correct in saying that fixing a pothole isn’t necessarily an ideological issue. However, the approach to the problem DOES matter because the money that fixes the pothole may or may not have had a better use in the private sector (unless the private sector is actually doing it, such as in a contract to pave the entire street.)

To the best of my knowledge, we’ve not seen a real effort to discuss how the city receives many of its services out of the Mayoral race. It seems to be the sole property of the District 2 race because both Debbie Campbell and Muir Boda seem to represent the idea of being a fiscal watchdog.

We have dabbled in nonpartisan races in the past but adopted a change to our bylaws that prevents the club from doing so now. Any candidate is free to attend our meetings and events. As Mike said, Mike Della Penna has been a fairly regular attendee since he announced. I’ve seen Bob Caldwell at events but not since he threw his cap into the ring.

Our Club’s resources are to be used on behalf of the Republican Party, the Republican message, and Republicans running in partisan races. The Salisbury mayoral election falls outside the mandate given to our club by its members.

I think it is kinda cool that it is a nonpartisan election. National party politics rarely have much to do with local issues–yes, it is true that your general philosophy of gov’t matters, but when it comes down to a pothole in the street, we just want it to be fixed. As someone who is involved in local politics, I can say it is truly refreshing to work together with people who have totally different political philosophies than mine. As you might guess if you read my occasional rants here, I am a liberal Democrat (probably more focused on the “liberal” than the Democrat). Yet I regularly work with some of the most conservative people in the area to try to get things done to improve our little chunk of the world. We can laugh at our differences, agree to disagree, and move on to get that pothole filled. It is nice to be able to set partisanship aside once in awhile. I think Michael is able to do that too, which is one of the reasons I love this blog. We disagree a lot, but I know he is a guy I could totally work with (although he probably thinks I’m a nut!).

The “nonpartisan” primary is next week (March 3rd).