While the council debates what to do about the now-wide-open job of council president (with Jim Compton’s resignation effective January 6, the council is split 4-4 between Richard Conlin, who was so confident he had the job he sent out a press release more than a month before the council was scheduled to vote, and Jean Godden), the council member with the most to lose, Conlin, is on vacation in Mexico. He’ll be back before the council votes, of course - their decision, originally scheduled for January 9, will almost certainly be pushed back until the council picks a replacement for Compton - but a lot can happen while a presidential candidate is out of town.

At least twice before, prospective council presidents have left town assuming they had a lock on the job and returned to find someone else occupying the seat. In 1996, Jane Noland left the country and returned to find her colleagues had chosen Jan Drago. And in 1998, the same thing happened to Martha Choe, who was defeated by Sue Donaldson. The moral of the story, according to one source on the second floor? “If you want to be president, you need to stick around town in December.”