Yesteday morning, I was doing my usual run through of the newspaper to get caught up on everything that is going on, when I can across an article announcing the candidate lists for the various local elections that will take place in the fall. People interested in declaring the candidacy for posts such as town council or the school committee had to turn in declaration papers between Monday and Wednesday. I was feeling a little upbeat about my chances until I saw how many people were running for the three open seats.

Here is the blurb from the paper:

BURRILLVILLE

Ten candidates have entered the fray for three seats on the Town Council. Council President Nancy Binns and Margaret Dudley, both Democrats, are poised for reelection campaigns.

Filing for Town Council are: incumbent Nancy F. Binns, a Democrat; Robert Bishop, an independent; Michelle D. Bouchard, an independent; incumbent Margaret L. Dudley, a Democrat; Blake A. Fouracre, a Democrat; Richard T. Frenette, a Democrat; Kevin D. Heitke, a Democrat; Barbara Lavergne, a Democrat; Robert Marshall, an independent; Newton B. Stevens, an independent, and Richard Teter, a Democrat.

Filing to run for the non-partisan School Committee are: incumbent Dorothy A. Cardon; incumbent Joan M. Cote;Aaron J. Coutu [Woohoo! It was cool to see my name in print here, though]; Christine Fasano; David C. Ketcham; incumbent Peter F. Lambert; Debra L. Stockwell; Thomas P. Tatro, and Jacqueline Zahn.

That is right! I am one of 9 people running. I know all of the incumbants, and I think two of them are likely to lose there seats because of issues they have had this year. For example, one of them went on vacation for four months this year ... a year in which we have gone the whole time without a contract with our teachers.

Two of the new candidates are people I greatly respect, and I think pretty much a shoe-in because of how well they are respected in the community. One of them may be dropping out pretty quickly, though, which would leave me with a more confidence. One of the other remaining candidates is my dental hygienist, and I am not sure how I feel about potentially beating out a woman who uses sharp instruments to work on my teeth ... Just kidding! She is quite the sweetheart.

Anyway, I guess this really doesn't change much, but it really made the whole thing more real. The exciting thing is that I have already had a lot of people not only tell me they support me and will vote for me, but who have asked to put signs on their front lawns for me and plan to suggest to people they know that they should vote for me. How cool is that?!?