Bilirakis? Bilarakis? Balirakis?

One of my favorite “Far Side” comics depicts a kid in class asking the teacher to be excused because “my brain is full.”

Totally get it. Some days it’s 6 p.m. and not a single thread goes through my mind because it’s so crammed with this, that and the other thing or two.​

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Especially as campaign season winds down. I have topics for three blogs but can’t see doing that to people I like, so I’m reducing them to a few paragraphs each. Here ya go:

— I don’t think I wrote two words about the Congressional District 12 race between Republican incumbent Gus Bilirakis and Democrat Kimberly Walker.

Before I get too far, an apology to Walker. I made plans to call her on at least two occasions, something came up and I didn’t make the call, and we didn’t connect. That’s all on me and none on her.

I didn’t connect with Bilirakis either, and that’s also all on me. But the thing about Bilirakis is I SAW him a lot. Chamber of commerce events, Steak & Steak dinner for Boys & Girls Clubs, political forums. (That’s him in the photo during a business roundtable.)

In a district — Citrus, Hernando, part of Pasco — that’s solidly red, Bilirakis is the clear front-runner. He defeated Walker two years ago with 63%.

Bilirakis will be a new congressman for our county and he’s made it clear he wants to hear about our issues. After learning how absent our current congressman, Daniel Webster, has been, Bilirakis will be a familiar face.

(I’m putting Bilirakis in the “look it up every single time” category so I don’t become the first blogger in Citrus County history to misspell our congressman’s last name. Even with that check, confidence for a screw up is high. I know me that well.)

— Haven’t written much either about Senate District 11 between Republican Blaise Ingoglia (another in the “look it up” category) and Brian Moore of the Green Party.

Ingoglia, a House member from Spring Hill, was ready to walk into the new SD 11 seat unopposed until Moore popped up at the last minute, literally because he could not afford the qualifying fee to run for governor.

Ingoglia is another one showing up all around Citrus County, becoming familiar with this end of the district. Ingoglia — you’ve got to meet him — has a confident swagger unlike any politician I’ve met. You get the idea that no matter what he says he’s going to do, he’ll get it done. He’s not a take-no-for-an-answer kind of guy.

As for Moore, he gets an A for effort. He’s the only candidate who regularly sends me press releases, which I’ve kept until after the election. Just in case.

— Election Day cannot come and go fast enough at Inverness City Hall. The council members, even those not on the ballot, have felt under attack. Tuesday night they were glowing with the success of last weekend’s inaugural Inverness Country Jam, and a new Cooterween setup Monday night that brought thousands of children and families to the Courthouse Square.

Then this happened and something they wanted to celebrate came under attack for one foolish moment. 

No one was more surprised about the social media reaction to that Cooterween photo than the council members and mayor (the city removed the post later Wednesday), who saw it as a distraction to their actual successes. (And they have a point. The reaction came from people who saw the photo on the city’s own Facebook page. City officials clearly believed there was nothing unusual other than people having a good time, or they wouldn’t have posted it.)

I really feel for my city government. I’ve said many times, what a tremendous place to live. Lots of positives, very few negatives. It’s going through a difficult election but that’s only because the city rarely finds itself on the defensive, which can happen when challengers face incumbents.

Six days, Inverness. Six days, then life returns to normal.

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