In the race for the District 4 city council seat, all eyes are on former candidate Heath Hickok. He is the only candidate who didn't make it through the primary that has yet to endorse one of the finalists. As you know, Kerry Gauthier and Gordon Grant will be on the November ballot, after getting 1,006 and 565 votes respectively in the primary.

The other former candidates, Matt Potter and Celia Scheer have already endorsed Grant. Scheer even told me she is now actively working on his campaign.

Hickok says he is not endorsing either candidate at this time. He is waiting until after an Oct. 15th candidate forum on business issues until he makes a decision. But, he knows just how important his endorsement is and has the potential of swaying the outcome. "21 percent of the vote is a significant number," he said. "That's why I want to wait and make sure I make the best decision."

Here are the totals for the primary. Simple math shows votes for Potter+Scheer+Hickok could put Grant ahead of top vote-getter Gauthier.

MATT POTTER 135 5.90

KERRY GAUTHIER 1,006 43.97

GORDON GRANT 565 24.69

HEATH HICKOK 472 20.63

CELIA SCHEER 110 4.81

Hickok sought out the DFL endorsement before the primary, but Gauthier ended up getting the label. I asked Hickok if the endorsement will influence his support for Gauthier. If Hickok wants the DFL endorsement in the future, he probably has to play ball now. But Hickok says it will not influence who he will endorse. "I'm being very open minded," he said.

The city of Duluth seems to want to get all bargaining units to sign a one-year contract with no salary increases in 2010. So far, police and the superviors have agreed to do so. But two of the largest unions, AFSCME and Fire, have barely made it to the negotiating table.

Both unions say they don't like the idea of a one-year contract, but seem to think a zero percent salary increase is do-able.

"We understand that times are tough, finances are tight and the money just isn't there right now," said Erik Simonson, Fire Union President.

Dave Weisen, who is on AFSCME's negotiating team agrees. "For a one-year contract, no salary increases might be possible, but it would be harder to agree to that for a two or three year contract," Weisen said.

It's unclear if getting employees to agree to no wage increases is why the city is pushing for one-year contracts, instead the usual three-year. I have an email into CAO Dave Montgomery for clarification.

Simonson says the sticking point with Fire will not be wages, but "other issues" that have to do with benefits and staffing.

Fire and the city haven't had talks since July. But they have a session scheduled for Oct. 13. AFSCME has no talks scheduled.

A website aimed at attracting and keeping young people (ages 18-35) in the Twin Ports will officially launch tomorrow.

According to the site, The DuSu, it will be "the one-stop shop for young adults working, living, playing and connecting in the Twin Ports." The website will feature news, entertainment, and opportunities for networking and employment resources.

What's unique about this effort is the website is funded, yes I said funded, by a large organization, the Duluth Superior Community Foundation. It even has paid staff, yes I said paid, to keep it updated on a regular basis--fresh content is key to a successful website.

A kick-off party is scheduled for Friday Sep. 18 from 7-10 pm under the high bridge at Rice's Point (Minnesota side). Cool location, right? There will be bands, food, and even the city's youthful mayor, Don Ness, will say a few words.

A top strategist for Barack Obama's presidential campaign made a stop in Duluth on Tuesday to speak to the American Advertising Federation.

Steve Hildebrand shared his thoughts on what lead to Pres. Obama's successful road to the White House.  He spoke in-depth about the young vote, social networking and branding of a candidate. Hildebrand has worked on several presidential campaigns, including Clinton/Gore.

I was curious what his thoughts were on likely candidate for president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. I asked him for a critique on how the governor is using social media to help or hurt him. Instead of talking analytically about Pawlenty's campaign strategy, Hildebrand gave what seemed like a partisan response of the governor. I guess I forgot it is possible Pawlenty could be Pres. Obama's next opponent someday in November 2012.

Here is what Hildebrand had to say about Pawlenty and republican strategies in general:

"Tim Pawlenty tends to get his ego fed a lot when he goes to Washington. If he’s smart enough, he should be careful about the kinds of offers that gets made, the incentives he gets to seeking the presidency and start listening to Minnesotans, what makes sense for Minnesotans, whether or not they think they’ve done a good job, has he hurt or helped health care. Pretty much everything points to the fact that he’s really hurt MinnesotaCare a lot. The education system is probably not moving forward the way Minnesota prides itself over, rightfully so. I think under his governorship he should have focused a lot more energy in building an even better education system in this state."

"[The republicans] are in a different situation than democrats are because they are in the opposition now. Democrats have control of both houses as well as a democratic president, so as the opposition party, they tend to use internet organizing and get people up with negative energy opposing Obama’s health care plan, opposing Obama’s climate change plan. A lot of the demonstrations that they did in Washington this last Saturday was pretty much all fed with negative energy and a lot of the organizing was over the internet. Republicans don’t just need to be the opposition party, they need to be the party that needs to come up with new ideas if they want to be the majority party again in this country."

On Sep. 28, swine flu will be all the buzz at Duluth City Hall.  City councilors will get briefed on how prepared the city is to handle an outbreak. Policy makers and health specialists will be speaking about the upcoming flu season. The presenters include: