Shhhhh…..    Don’t tell my husband you’ve read this.

He doesn’t know I am writing it and if/when he sees it, he will probably ask me to take it down.

Ivan Potter spent years as a futurist whose life’s work was telling elected officials what issues were coming around the bend to bedevil them and how to head them off at the pass.

He’s been a political creature since he was old enough to say "Goldwater". In past elections, he’s gloried in giving candidates advice on how to win elections. 

But this election will be different.

Ivan Potter, my husband, will have his name on the ballot here in our little town on November 2nd.

He’s off and running for a seat on the Clinton City Council. There are seven candidates for six seats, so he is taking this election very seriously.  He has yard signs and cards and lists and color coded calendars. He is a man with a plan.

Ivan was unsure whether he wanted to jump from being a back seat driver up to the last minute when he filed in August with our county clerk, James “Jimbo” Berry. I took the photo of the obligatory payment of the filing fee just as Jimbo was saying “Now Ivan. You gotta let go of that twenty.” He did, but I bet it was one sweaty $20.

In his first seconds as an official candidate, Ivan got to shake hands with his first real live voter-local attorney Tom Bugg.  Contrary to his advice to aspiring candidates, I think he forgot to ask Tom for his vote. That’s okay, though. He can ask when he visits Tom at home as he goes door to door begging for votes like a Depression era hobo canvassing for a handout. 

I take some credit – or blame – for this stepping out of the role of advisor and seer into Candidate Guy. It took months of whispering in his ear when he was most vulnerable to suggestion – asleep or after a particularly satisfying meal- to convince him.  He has become more active and interested in civic affairs since we moved here in 2005. He regularly attends the Clinton City Council meetings and irregularly gets to Fiscal Court. He’s attained a level of local involvement unheard of before we came to Hickman County.

Our friend John Ross said to me that running is the culmination of Ivan’s years of civic activity. I responded with a snort. While I was playing Queen Mary Volunteer the First, my husband was shaking his head and filling out commitment papers for me.  Since coming west, there’s been a major role reversal.  Ivan has come late to the fray, but as is his wont, he’s jumped in the deep end of the pool. John did go on to say that he hopes Ivan wins- just to see what he does next. John sees Ivan as a source of unending amusement in a weak fall season in a weak fall television season.

In these days when politicians rank to the south of car dealers and north of lawyers in public esteem, I know one budding politician who passionately believes that he can make a difference. He has my vote and he won’t even have to ring the doorbell or take out the garbage. Okay, so he won’t have to ring the doorbell! The garbage will be negotiable.

Just don’t tell I wrote this – I don’t want him getting the big head and starting to use the royal “we” around the house.