How do you say, "General Election" in Pittsburghese

Four weeks from Tuesday, the good voting citizenry of Pittsburgh will go to the polls to make an important choice... no, wait, they won't... we did that in May, right?

The November Election is to Pittsburgh Politics what the Supreme Soviet was to the USSR: a rubber stamp validating the choice of the ruling clique. Or, to be less smarmy, it's a pain in the ass to vote twice; we've just shortened the process 'round here.

Honestly, four weeks to go before the general election and I have heard next to nothing with regards to local politics. Zero. Zilch. Nadda. Nothing. And this is from a guy who has his fingers on the pulse of the guy who has his fingers on the pulse of Pittsburgh. You would have thought that I would have heard... ya know... SOMETHING ALREADY.

I've seen a few O'Connor signs up on lawns, true, but they've pretty much been up since February. One guy down the street from me had posted a Weinroth sign, which I believe was eventually stolen... not for malice, but for novelty. The Santorum/Casey race is generating more interest... and that's still a year away... and half of that race isn't even officially nominated yet.

Really, the public visibility has been exceptionally low for the Pittsburgh Mayoral race. I'd heard that Bobby O had agreed to several debates with a cup of coffee, but they were poorly attended by the general public. Joe Weinroth had a compelling engagement with a ham salad sandwich, which ended with a two hour bout of intestinal hemorrhaging, or something. And the other candidates... let's call them "Steve" and "Phil", for I refuse to waste my time finding out if anyone else is actually running... lost their debates with an ATM and the MoviePhone guy, respectively.

Bob's been taking a very laid back approach to this part of the campaign... any more laid back and it might be mistaken for a mural. Part of it, of course, is that he, officially, does not want to seem presumptuous. Pittsburgh does not like presumptuousness (Plaxico, who?). The other part, I feel, is that Bob really isn't quite sure what he wants to be doing when he gets into the mayor's office; better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open ones mouth and lose an election.

This general election may surprise all of us curmudgeons out there, but I doubt it. My money, as well as most of the money out there, is still on O'Connor, and, short of coming out in favor of infanticide or female circumcision, I think Bob has it in the bag.

Shall we start talking about the May 2009 primary yet?