BIG SMILE VERSUS BIG RED

Some folks have a smile that will light up a room. Some don't. Lisa H-G does. The incumbent doesn't. Doesn't mean she's not a nice lady or that she has nice friends or even that she's made many enemies in office. She just doesn't have a high beams personality.

Usually, the challenger has to give some kind of reason for ousting an incumbent (and I'm not saying Lisa won't do that, too.). Every once in awhile, someone will just catch on and the public will attach itself to him or her. Certainly, Charlie Williams did not make a compelling case for his first election as Recorder and his opponent had great credentials and was well liked. Still Charlie had the "High Beams" on all the time.

The other reason it's really difficult to run against a "High Beam" candidate is that, for some reason, races like that are "unpollable". You can do all the telephone surveys you want from either party. People aren't going to know how they'll vote until they fill in the circle.

For the incumbent, running against Lisa is a little like Catching Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA tournament. May not be a high seed but they're the team nobody wants to play.

If the money's even close to equal, this is dangerous race for Big Red.