The next civic election might just be more interesting than the previous two. As anyone who is even remotely interested in our civic government knows, it is difficult to unseat an incumbent mayor or councillor.

If the universe unfolds as it is supposed to, Mayor Mandel will not be running again. But he originally said he would only run for two terms and he is currently serving his third, so one never knows.

Though I think it is a pretty safe bet that he will not run again. I am sure that after nine years, he will have had quite enough of civic politics. Also, it would look like the downtown arena and the LRT expansion were the major reasons he decided to run the last time. I would suspect those issues will have been put to bed by the time the next election rolls around.

Don Iveson, one of the people who some speculated would run for mayor, has indicated he won’t be doing so. That is going to make for a wide-open contest. So who would you like to see run for mayor?

Some people are going to push Kerry Diotte to do so. He has been vociferous in his criticism of how the city is run. However, he is in his first term and may or may not be able to put together a team that can raise enough money to mount a credible campaign. Running for mayor isn’t cheap. As I recall, Mandel raised about $750,000 for his campaign. That’s not chump change in anybody’s book.

One of the things that makes running for civic office difficult is that contributions to a civic-election campaign aren’t tax deductible the way they are for provincial and federal elections. That means that the real money comes only from individuals and organizations that see a clear advantage to having a particular candidate in the mayor’s seat. In most instances, it has been developers that have put up most of the cash.

We could of course see someone who is not currently on council decide to run for mayor. If that is the case, one can only hope it is someone who can articulate a clear vision and direction for our city. We need someone who cannot only identify a destination for Edmonton but who can also lay out the route for getting there. Who do you think could do that?