Running for Mayor? Why? To Get Elected in Atlanta or To Get Something Done?

So, I get up early the other morning and go through my daily ritual - turn on the television and lie in bed wishing I didn't have to go to work.

The first thing I see is a commercial for Atlanta mayoral candidate Lisa Borders. In the commercial, five or six African American ladies -- of all different ages, complexions and any other differing demographic you can come up with -- are sharing their concerns about safety in our fair city of Hotlanta.

First of all, their acting sucks.

Secondly, I was completely put-off by the audacity of the Borders campaign for their very weak try at using the safety issue as a way to reach their desired goal -- to attract the coveted female African American vote here in Atlanta.

A little perspective here. As Atlanta has boomed and mushroomed over the past three decades, the lead group in that population, employment, education and doggone financial explosion has been African American women. They vote in greater mass than African American men and just by sheer numbers are the most valuable voting bloc here in Atlanta.

So I have no problem in someone trying to tap that resource for a daily chauffered ride into work at City Hall.

More perspective. I am the undecided voter. I haven't decided who I'm going to vote for. In fact, I've been looking at all of the candidates and trying to choose who, in my opinion, is best for Atlanta. I don't have an allegiance or dislike for any of them.

But here's my problem - well the first of a few problems with the Borders campaign. First, Atlanta's safety problem is a serious issue and a huge concern. While FBI statistics say violent crime is going down, regular people who watch the freakin' news and read the newspaper everyday see more burglaries, more robberies and more assaults. Go to Georgia Tech or Morehouse? You're probably worried about going out at night because the number of assaults - many times armed - seem to be going up in those campus areas. (A Spelman student has already been shot and killed as she was caught in gunfire just walking from dorm at a neighboring institution.) Crime is a serious problem here in Atlanta. It is not an issue to be used for gain. But guess I'm too late on that one. It is now fodder for badly acted commercials.

Secondly, is this how you garner votes? You blatantly say(though attempt to shroud it as a safety commercial) "I want the black woman vote." You want it. Go get it. But don't blatantly turn the Atlanta's mayor's race into a paper-thin veiled attempt to first get elected by kow-towing to black women when you really need to first say how you're going to deal with the city's financial picture and safety picture. Which is more important? Getting elected or really dealing with safety?

I think I've figured that out as soon as I saw those sisters in the kitchen.