S(l)ay again?

That sound you heard was the collective yawn of the voting public in St. Louis City.

Despite a match-up that could have provided a vigorous debate between a long-time incumbent facing simmering anger from a large portion of the city voters, and a bright and ambitious former State Senator who has both worked with the Mayor, and felt free to criticize him, the result was a lopsided wallop.

It's not as if this was completely under the radar. There were some bright spots in the media coverage of the race, even if it barely rose above the NCAA wrestling coverage in many outlets.

It's likely that the feeling of Slay's inevitability coupled with a non-existant independant campaign by former State Senator Maida Coleman resulted in few swing voters. Most likely had made up their minds when they pulled the lever on primary day.

While the St. Louis American did try mightily to fire up interest in the race by pushing for answers on some of the difficult issues the city faces, Slay was able to walk away with some stock answers and Coleman's counters barely made it out of weekly circulation.

The American did a good job setting it up, and KWMU did try and press the candidates in their interviews, much of the rest of the media failed to even take a swing.

- Murphy