The Wilder Factor

A new, post-Goldman-withdrawal analysis of the Richmond mayoral contest, "The Wilder Factor," is up at Richmond.com. It was penned by your narrator.

At various mayoral forums in different parts of town Paul Goldman, Robert J. Grey, Jr., Del. Dwight C. Jones, Councilman William J. “Bill” Pantele and Lawrence E. Williams, Jr. have all made remarks that were critical of the sitting mayor, L. Douglas Wilder.

Some have been more pointed and direct than others.

Not one to let such slights pass, Mayor Doug Wilder, a former state senator and governor, picked his time -- 16 days before Election Day -- to weigh in on Richmond’s 2008 mayoral race. He picked his place by flexing the unlimited license he seems to have to opine on the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Commentary/OpEd pages.

In bold print Wilder was dismissive of those seeking to become just the second popularly-elected mayor of Richmond in 60 years; the sitting mayor announced that his would-be replacements “just don’t make the grade.”

Click here to read the entire piece.