Warning: Part of the following is a self-serving announcement.

In the Give The Devil His Due Dept., LCDC antagonist Dan Gookin & Co. ran a textbook campaign in the closing week of the 2007 Coeur d'Alene City Council elections. After almost a year of softening up Mayor Sandi Bloem's government with attacks in the Coeur d'Alene Press, Gookin & Co. closed hard with direct mailings, street-corner campaigning, and that clever Mary Souza Design Events rolling billboard. Several insiders told me how frustrated they were that incumbents Ron Edinger and Al Hassell didn't work harder in their campaigns. The pair relied on campaigns that featured yard signs and candidates' forums. That approach was good under the old cattle-call system when the top three vote-getters were elected. It's outdated under the new system when well-motivated, well-financed and computer-savvy challengers can target individual council spots. Which brings me to this point ...

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