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Those 64 or so citizens who have declared they would like to be candidates for Mayor or City Council can start filing the paperwork today to make themselves official candidates for the 11 seats. And Council Member Mike Martinez, who is running for Mayor, plans to be among the first to file. According to a press release from his campaign, Martinez will file the necessary paperwork and signatures to get his name on the Nov. 4 ballot around 9 a.m. The filing deadline is Aug. 18. Winners will have until Jan. 6 to get ready to serve. But we can expect several runoffs, with the date for that election December 16.

Mike Kanin is the Publisher of the Austin Monitor. As such, he doesn't report on much--aside from the workings of the Monitor--any more. In his previous life as a freelance journalist, Kanin has written...