The big news out of a Jacksonville this morning is that it's very possible a black Democrat will win the mayor's race, though the race is officially too close to call.
With all 256 precincts reporting, Democrat Alvin Brown leads Republican Mike Hogan by 603 votes in the race for mayor. If Brown holds on, he'll be the first Democrat to lead Jacksonville in 20 years.
But more interesting to this reporter from a Tampa-centric aspect is the voter participation. The turnout, according to the Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland, was 36.81 percent.
In Tampa last March in the race between Rose Ferlita and Bob Buckhorn, it was a paltry 22.3 percent.
This article appears in May 12-18, 2011.