Many offices, many candidates

There are, of course, many elective offices available at various levels of government. And it is very interesting that just in Hamilton County, there have been so many citizens who have qualified to run for a variety of important state and local offices.

Their names were listed on Page B-1 of Friday's Times Free Press.

Seven candidates are running to represent the people of our Tennessee 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Five people are running for District 10 in the Tennessee state Senate.

There are 14 men and women -- count 'em -- who are running in several local districts of our Tennessee House of Representatives.

Three people are running for Hamilton County mayor.

Six people have qualified to run for judge in Hamilton County's Division 5 of the General Sessions Court.

There are three people running for Hamilton County property tax assessor.

And more are running for offices in our county or in local municipalities.

We believe it is good to have so much interest in local offices, to have so many candidates, and -- we hope -- many voters paying attention to the qualifications of the candidates and to choose among them on election day.

Obviously, apathy is not currently a problem in local politics.