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Mike Lawrence

Call Mike Lawrence at 871-4203 or e-mail mlawrence@steamboatpilot.com.

The powers that be at this newspaper started this column to provide sharp, educated insight about Routt County politics.

With that in mind, here is this week's gem: I have no idea who will become Routt County's newest commissioner. Absolutely none. All I can safely say is that the new commissioner will be either Democrat Diane Mitsch Bush or Republican Paul Strong.

With that kind of insight, it's a wonder they don't give me a corner office.

With less than two weeks to go before Election Day, people who have been paying attention - and who aren't holding on to partisan hopes - can make a reasonable guess about the result of most local and statewide races.

But the commissioner race is a toss-up. An informal online poll this summer gave Mitsch Bush a slight, 51-to-49 percent lead over Strong - a result well within any margin of error, especially in an online poll where the source of votes is unknown.

The deadlock is not surprising. In a largely rural community, an election often comes down to who you know. It comes down to whose fence you've fixed, literally or metaphorically.

Over the years, Strong and Mitsch Bush have both fixed a lot of fences.

In reporting a story about Strong and Mitsch Bush for Sunday's newspaper, it quickly became obvious that not only have both candidates given years of service to Routt County, but also, because of that service, there are many, many people in Routt County who have worked with, benefited from and passionately support each person.

Party affiliation didn't matter.

What was surprising about the online poll was that, in the accompanying "Sound-Offs" that ran in this newspaper, several respondents said they were not familiar with either candidate.

Hopefully that has changed in recent weeks.

But for those still in the dark, and in this column's continuing tradition of bulleted lists, here are some less newsworthy items that didn't make it into Sunday's paper:

n Mitsch Bush is an avid cyclist who, for years, rode her bike seven miles each way from her home near Strawberry Park Hot Springs to her job teaching at Colorado Mountain College. She has used the same bike lock since 1969.

n Strong does his part for the environment, too. It's not often you meet a guy who wears cowboy boots while driving a hybrid Toyota Prius.

n While living in Routt County and teaching sociology at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, for most of the 1980s and early 1990s, Mitsch Bush would come home on weekends. In Fort Collins, she got involved in several community activities, such as serving on the board of directors for a battered woman's group, because, she said, "I was there on weeknights."

n Strong is a firm believer in increasing public access to government by placing more city and county documents on the Web, saying: "It would be a better service to the community." An accountant, Strong works simultaneously on three wide-screen computer monitors in his Old Pilot Building office. "I haven't put anything into a file cabinet in two years," he said.

Strong has served on the Steamboat Springs City Council for seven years, including two years as its president. Mitsch Bush has served on the Routt County Planning Commission for 10 years, including nine as its vice-chair. Both demonstrate high levels of capability, preparation and professionalism in meetings.

I look forward to working with either individual. I especially look forward to seeing what Routt County decides.