cvillenews.com

There’s a new candidate for City Council: Peter Kleeman intends to run for City Council as an independent, Charlottesville Tomorrow reports. Kleeman, a Democrat, unsuccessfully sought the party’s nomination for Council in 2000. He’s a transportation planning consultant, downtown resident, ardent environmentalist and, by way of disclaimer, a good friend. He’s in the process of collecting the required 125 signatures from registered Charlottesville voters, in order to get his name on the ballot. Though many Republicans won’t see this particular independent candidate as providing any real choice come the November elections, the fact is that a) he’s running and they’re not and b) he’s a Democrat, but he’s hardly of Charlottesville Democrats.

The effect that his entry will have on the election, particularly if a credible Republican ends up running, will be mighty interesting to watch.

Albemarle Democrats held their nomination caucus last night, Liesel Nowak reports in the Progress, and nominated Larry Claytor for sheriff, Lindsay Dorrier for reelection to the BoS, and Debbie Shipp for Clerk of Court. Claytor and Dorrier both enjoyed landslide victories among the 400 caucus members. Now the three — and the other uncontested nominees — will go on to attempt to win the general election. This promises to be the most colorful Albemarle election in years, with an impressive and impassioned lineup of candidates and enough of a smattering of independent candidates to make things unpredictable.

Charlottesville Tomorrow provides video and audio highlights from the caucus.

There are three contested nominations in Albemarle County, all among Democrats, and all will be settled at the Monday evening nomination convention. The Albemarle County Democratic Party will hold the event at 6pm at the Albemarle County Office Building. Attendees will be selecting between Janet Ferrance and Debbie Shipp for Clerk of Circuit Court, and Larry Claytor and Roger Craig for Sheriff. Those living in the southern end of the county will be voting on whether incumbent Lindsay Dorrier or challenger Kevin Fletcher should be the party’s nominee. The winners of those contests will go on to face independent and Republican opposition in the general election come November.

Registration starts at 6pm, and the doors close at 7pm, so make sure you get there early enough to get signed in so that you’ll be credentialed to vote. If you get there late then you can only watch.

Few people have the faintest idea of how to pick somebody for clerk, though I get the sense folks are starting to make up their minds in the sheriff’s race. I’ll be spending the entire week at the beach, so I won’t be able to cast a vote, but if I were, I know I’d be voting for Larry Claytor. His campaign has been enormously impressive, he’s a great guy, and, having talked with him just a couple of times, I don’t doubt this Jim Webb Democrat will run a very vigorous campaign come fall. (Disclaimer: I’ve received $30 in advertising revenue from his campaign to run a pair of ads on cvillenews.com.) On the topic of clerk, though, I must admit that I’m clueless.

Make your pitch: Who should people vote for?