So, the breaking news is that Mary Mulhern, former Creative Loafing arts critic and unsuccessful County Commission candidate, will not seek one of the two appointments to the Tampa City Council. Those are for the seats being held by Rose Ferlita and Kevin White, who won seats on the Hillsborough County Commission.
My guess is she's not seeking the temporary appointment because she could run for one of them in the spring. Council members have said they don't want to see their appointees for these two seats have an advantage in the 2007 municipal elections and, instead, want them to agree not to run.
Thinking of Mulhern's losing effort against Ferlita, I checked out which precincts Mulhern won and found, not surprisingly, it was in the strongly Democratic sections (many of them Hispanic) of Town N Country and West Tampa. Ferlita creamed Mulhern in South Tampa, however, where a decade ago Democrats ruled the day. Only two of Ferlita's Top 20 winning precincts were outside of South Tampa.
Ferlita's Top 2 performing precincts? Apollo Beach and a church in the heart of South Tampa's upscale Palma Ceia neighborhood.
This article appears in Nov 15-21, 2006.