Missoula News

The Race for Missoula's Mayor Job

Are You Ready for Some Mayoral Elections?

By Courtney Lowery, 9-12-05

The countdown is on to see who will emerge as last two candidates left vying for Missoula's top spot. There will be six Missoulians on the ballot Tuesday in the primary election. By now, you should recognize their faces and their platforms.

But in case you don't, here's a quick roundup:

They've been stumping on the airwaves, smiling pretty, answering some interesting questions in the Independent and gushing on the pages of the Missoulian.

They also sat down this summer with me to give New West readers a taste of what each of them might look like at the center of City Hall.

For each New West profile, click on the candidates' names below:
Jerrell "Jerry" Ballas
John Engen
Lou Ann Crowley
Clayton Floyd
Geoff Badenoch
John D'Orazi

Elsewhere on New West Nate Schweber gives each candidate a shakedown this week and don't forget to try to match up the who's who on the list of RSVPs to local musician Bob Wire's mayoral poker challenge.

The Indy's questions are killer and the responses are incredibly telling. There's much you can tell about a person by what his or her answer is to "Describe a Perfect Date." Engen stood out in these profiles because he's a funny guy ("I’m 40, I’m running for mayor and I fall asleep at 9 watching “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.� What are you people thinking?" beats the pants off of Clayton Floyd's "A full moon overhead by the ocean at a private beach house with candlelight and my wife.") and he gets props for actually acknowledging that the Indy meant to ask about weed, not oxygen with "Have you ever inhaled?" Lou Ann Crowley came off pretty well, John D'Orazi's answers are a good read and Clayton Floyd played the questions very astutely, but poor Jerry Ballas isn't likely to score well Tuesday with the Indy readership. Ballas' anwer to "What would you bring to a potluck?" "A salad made by my wife." Ouch. (He did hit the "inhale" question head on so that's good. The answer was "No!" by the way.)

In the Missoulian, each candidate got a fair shake and the profiles were somewhat predictable: John Engen as the hometown bridge-builder, Clayton Floyd as the guy willing to take a stand, Lou Ann Crowley as the thoughtful listener, Jerry Ballas as the good old Missoula boy looking to his close circle of friends for support, Geoff Badenoch as the insider/outsider guy who gets things done and of course, John D'Orazi as the outspoken outsider. The campaign finance reports, however, are a nice addition to the otherwise standard profiles. John Engen leads the money race with $16,563 reported in his first report with Lou Ann Crowley close behind at $13,824. Badenoch rounds out the top three with $8,049. The "sampling" of donors is interesting as well.

The city really is at a crossroads and who we elect to lead us through it will make a big impact so please inform yourself and get out and vote -- you'll be thankful you did.

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