At yesterday's forum, the mayor and four challengers faced the audience for over an hour of questions. The forum does not allow them to use notes, so the give and take is very entertaining as well as enlightening. We learn more about them as persons.

This website helped start these Soapbox forums two years ago and is one of the sponsors this year. While I am not shy about posting opinionated reports here, I also support fair and open campaigns for all who are willing to run for public office. We have sought to create a forum that is very fair to all candidates. The goal is to inform citizens of the positions of candidates.

Watch for the forums to repeat after the Primary election. The format will be different, with both candidates for each office on the two soapboxes together and asking each other questions as well as fielding questions from the audience.

You can check the websites of candidates throughout the campaign season with the handy list on the right. The Email links make it convenient to contact them for invitations to speaking events. We need to help candidates reach out to more voters and not just leave it to the candidates to scramble. Challengers should be invited to neighborhood meetings. We can all help make our election process work better. There are also links to the Bellingham Herald's web pages of campaign coverage and the County Auditors pages. See the column on the right.