Teen Holds Two-Vote Lead in Mich. Race

[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...1100493_pf.html[/url]

The Associated Press
Friday, November 11, 2005; 7:32 AM


HILLSDALE, Mich. -- An 18-year-old high school student held on to a two-vote lead to become mayor of this southern Michigan town.

County Clerk Thomas C. Mohr on Thursday announced the official tally: Michael Sessions received 670 votes. Mayor Doug Ingles had 668.

Earlier unofficial figures had shown Sessions with a 64-vote lead over the 51-year-old incumbent. But several votes for Sessions, a write-in candidate, were disqualified because they were actually cast for other candidates.

Ingles has until 5 p.m. EST Wednesday to ask for a recount.

Sessions used $700 from a summer job to fund his race, putting up signs throughout the city and campaigning door-to-door in the town of 8,200 people.

Sessions appeared Thursday on "Late Show with David Letterman" to read the Top 10 list of "Good Things About Being an 18-year-old Mayor."

The list included "Parents try to tell me what to do, I raise their taxes" (No. 10), "I got a call from Demi Moore" (No. 6) and "It's flattering when President Bush calls me for advice" (No. 1).

WOW!!

I saw this on Wed. I think it is awesome. He has an interesting few years ahead of him. It is the largest town to ever elect a teenager as mayor.

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Good for him for using that money to fund his campaign. This is sure going to different for him.

Now, just let him run for President....

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ThrillNetwork Moderator
The user formerly known as WildeFyre
UOIT Mechanical Engineering Student

He's gotta wait 17 more years for that honor.

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I wonder how Mr. Ingles feels..

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ThrillNetwork Editor (past tense: lectricShark)
Never forget justice is what love looks like in public. -- OXFAM

An 18 year old mayor? I think there are only a few 18 year olds that could actually do a good job as mayor....Certainly interesting for him.

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"She's waiting for a prince in shining armor, and I don't even know how to put armor on."

Considering the sorry state that Indianapolis is in, I'd vote for him. Then again, if a dog ran aginst the mayor we have, I'd vote for the dog.

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ThrillNetwork Lead Moderator
My neighbor got a big new house, and all I got was his lousy payments

I wonder if the Ingles he beat is a decendant of the Ingles family in Little house, they were in Minnesota most of the latter parts of the books...

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In our city, we had a high schooler who graduated the previous year run for city council, but he was beat out of the race. He still got 10% of the votes.

If I were the Ingles dude I would be pretty ticked off right now. Knowing I just lost the mayor race to a teenager would be kind of like losing to a team of girls in football.

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GO MAGIC

So there is hope for me if I run in 2 years at age 26. That's awesome news for the 18 year old.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

I can't really take it seriously. What 18 year old could really do a good job? There's no way for someone at that age to know how the job of being a mayor is done. Let's be honest and face it, he won a [I]popularity contest[/I] because of the novelty of an 18 year old running for mayor. To me, it's a joke.

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YOUR HATRED AMUSES ME

Ok, here's a dilemma for you- let's say you work in a place that sells/serves liquor.

In comes the mayor, wanting to buy alchohol. Violate the law and serve him, or deny him, and face his wrath?

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ThrillNetwork Lead Moderator
My neighbor got a big new house, and all I got was his lousy payments

I'm pretty sure if this was any of us we already would've set aside part of the city budget to open a new amusement park

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ThrillNetwork Moderator
The user formerly known as WildeFyre
UOIT Mechanical Engineering Student

[quote]I can't really take it seriously. What 18 year old could really do a good job? There's no way for someone at that age to know how the job of being a mayor is done. Let's be honest and face it, he won a [I]popularity contest[/I] because of the novelty of an 18 year old [URL="http://www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/showthread.php?t=36802#"]running[/URL] for mayor. To me, it's a joke.[/quote]

I can think of a handful of seniors at my school who could do a better job than charlotte's current mayor; Pat McCrory. I'm sure certain 18-year-olds could do this.

Also, my aunt is the mayor of one of charlotte's suburbs. She had no political experience when she ran. The job really isn't that hard.

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Just because you're unhappy with your current mayor doesn't mean an 18 year old could do it better. Especially since you're talking about a big city like Charlotte. There would be simply too much to have knowledge of as opposed to learning on the job. When I vote for someone, I want to have some basic experience and knowledge of the job they're going to take on. Simply put, a ladder of succesion. Maybe if that person had already served as an alderman or was in charge of something other than perhaps the McDonald's drive thru window, it might be another story.

As for your aunt, I don't know how old she is obviously but I'm sure she has more [u]life[/u] experiences than an 18 year old. Since running a small suburb won't take as much knowledge and experience as mayor of a big city, some lack of job experiece can be overlooked but I'd still want someone who has lived a little and knows about the world and where they live other than from just reading about it in a history book.

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YOUR HATRED AMUSES ME

From what I hear, you don't even need all your teeth to be the Mayor of Hillsdale.

In a town of 8,000 people, I think an 18 year old mayor could do a good job, if he takes it seriously, and uses his common sense.

Let us keep in mind that this is a small town, so the mayor probably doesn't have much power, other than ceremonial stuff, in the first place. Also, in most cities/towns the mayor acts as a figurehead and really just influences legislators and councilmen and women. We just had a heated mayoral race in Buffalo, a city where the mayor is blamed for a lot but does very little, so I've been freshly reminded of all this.

I wonder if I could run for mayor of my town at 18...I'll have to check up on that...

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[quote]As for your aunt, I don't know how old she is obviously but I'm sure she has more [U]life[/U] experiences than an 18 year old. Since [URL="http://www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/showthread.php?t=36802&page=2#"]running[/URL] a small suburb won't take as much knowledge and experience as mayor of a big city, some lack of job experiece can be overlooked but I'd still want someone who has lived a little and knows about the world and where they live other than from just reading about it in a history book.[/quote]

My aunt is the mayor of weddington, NC, a town of about 7000 according to the 2000 census [and it has grown alot since then]. This makes her job very comparible to the job of this 18-year-old.

My point is that she really dosen't do very much as mayor. Being mayor is just a part time job for her. I hate to badmouth the duties of a mayor for a town with a pupulation under 10,000, but this is just the truth.

As far as the need for a mayor with 'life experiences,' I can think of many 18-year-olds I know who would be better mayors than many adults I know. You guys are simply stereotyping.

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Again, you're talking about someone as mayor who is incompetent. But would rather honestly have an 18 year old as mayor over someone older, more experienced and more qualified and hardworking? I'm not saying an 18 year old can't have those attributes but I'd also want the experience and maturity that age brings.

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YOUR HATRED AMUSES ME

coasterlove, you're a sensible adult with a legitimate claim. The people that disagree with you are 14 - 17 and think: that being mayor at 18 would be very cool, that if someone tries really hard they can do anything (I mean aren't we all taught that we can be President some day if we want to and try really hard??), and join the bandwagon in disapproving of most to all forms of government from Bush on down and truly believe a starry eyed teen will be able to fufill a position despite no credentials.

Your claims are more legitimate, and until they take a politics class and read the Washington Post they will continue to believe what they will. Argue with them about roller coasters, but as to politics you are at a different point of realization than most people here.

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The College of William and Mary Class of 2009
Delta Chi - ΔΧ

I wish the 18 yr old understood what it was like to pay the mortgage, taxes and much more that goes with living in a town. I'm just 24 and still not in that. I wish I'd be in the life experience to understand what people go through when I'd make decisions as mayor.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too