![Tampa's mayoral candidates are on stage for the start of an Oct. 3 debate at Hillsborough Community College. [MARTHA ASENCIO RHINE | Times]](https://i0.wp.com/www.tampabay.com/storyimage/HI/20181102/ARTICLE/311029998/AR/0/AR-311029998.jpg?ssl=1)
We hurtle toward next week’s big election in a hurricane of anger and insult, with some mailers you can barely hold in your hands without burning your fingers.
In some cases, it’s less impassioned politicking, more all-out dumpster fire.
This is true even in some races as local as the Hillsborough County Commission, with candidates insinuating their opponents have dark plans for you. Or a state race in which your choices are, if you believe what the ads say, a candidate who’s against teachers and school kids or a tax cheat, depending. There’s even an ugly smear attempt in a normally dignified race for judge, and another judicial candidate using his more generic middle name because he doesn’t want the “ethnicity” of his first name to hurt him with voters.
Sigh.
Then, there’s this quiet pocket of politics in the city of Tampa.
I know it’s early to talk about the race to replace term-limited Mayor Bob Buckhorn since the city election isn’t until March. But the made-for-TV cast of characters is busy stumping away, having already participated in not one, but two debates. Well, except one notable no-show candidate who got even…
