The list of people who have pulled petitions from the Shelby County Election Commission for the City of Memphis's special mayoral election climbed to 30 today after attorney Charles Carpenter, professional wrestling celebrity Jerry Lawler and former County Commissioner and perennial mayoral candidate John Willingham picked them up.
And with at least four more declared candidates yet to obtain a petition -- Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton, City Councilwoman Wanda Halbert, County Commissioner James Harvey and former City Councilwoman Carol Chumney -- the number seems likely to rise to at least three dozen. Wharton's campaign has planned an event for Thursday in conjunction with Wharton pulling a petition. There is a Sept. 3 deadline to file the petition, which requires 25 signatures and a $100 fee, and the withdrawal deadline is Sept. 10 for the Oct. 15 election.
Carpenter, who served as campaign manager for former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton, invited media and supporters to be there when he picked up his petition. Last week, Herenton picked up a petition himself for the election, which was triggered when he officially resigned on July 30 from the job he held for 17 1/2 years. There has been no further indication whether Herenton will indeed file to run in an election to replace himself, though he made it clear in interviews last week he was untroubled by the prospect of the city spending nearly $1 million on the election.
Willingham, a retired engineer and barbecue champion, has twice run for Memphis mayor and fallen far short both times, most recently when he got only less than 1 percent of the votes in the 2007 election. He got 29.7 percent in the 2003 city election, and as the Republican nominee for county mayor in 2006 got 24.3 percent of the vote.
Also picking up petitions today were real estate broker Harrel C. Moore, Anthony Ryan Guess and Kenneth Baroff. You can view the full list at the election commission's Web site.
Memphis has a rep of poor voter turnout in non-presidential elections. With a low number of voters and a high number of candidates we may see a single number percentage of total voters electing a leader for the city.
The key areas to win: the youth vote, the women's vote, and the hispanic vote (the silent minority). Personality seems to override issues in the city. Can AC hid the fact that the county debt is as much or more than it was when he started. Can WW hide his hijinx in questionable business deals? Can candidates overcome candidates with built in support groups like Kenneth Whalum? Can Myron avoid the punk out attack by WW on him that seemed to dog and hurt Herman Morris? Can Carol or Jerry hold together a voter group to win? Will anybody take time to vote?