Tuesday is probably your only opportunity to see Sly James, Clay Chastain and Vincent Lee in the same room together

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Bless the folks at the League of Women Voters.

The Kansas City political club will do its civic duty on Tuesday evening when it will corral wayward mayoral candidates Clay Chastain and Vincent Lee into the auditorium at All Souls Unitarian Church with Sly James to hold a forum in this year’s least dynamic municipal election contest.

Near as we can tell, Chastain still plans to travel from Bedford, Virginia, where he lives, to participate in the forum. Chastain called the newsroom last week, wondering why local media had all but declared victory for James’ bid for a second term as Kansas City mayor.

It’s true that The Kansas City Star continues to declare that James is popular (an assessment that’s difficult to quantify), and that this newspaper last month predicted an easy victory for the incumbent. It’s also true that there is a groundswell of discontent aimed at James (which would be the case for any incumbent). Still, it’s not nearly enough to unseat the well-organized and well-funded candidate, particularly with these two candidates at hand.

Money doesn’t mean everything in elections, but fundraising indicates at least a minimal level of interest in pursuing a serious campaign. Both Lee and Chastain have filed limited activity reports with the Missouri Ethics Commission 40 days ahead of the primary election. That means that if they have raised or spent any money, it’s not even enough to trigger the legal requirement to report it. James, on the other hand, has $415,966 in campaign cash sitting around.

Chastain was in Virginia last week, three weeks ahead of the April 7 primary election. Spending much of his time in Virginia doesn’t bode well for either his candidacy or his insistence that he’s a Kansas City resident.

Lee has stepped up his game from previous write-in candidacies by getting on the ballot this time around. (He picked up 12 write-in votes in 1999 when he ran for mayor.)

Lee’s and Chastain’s eccentric personalities might make for some fun on Tuesday, but this city would have been well-served by a serious race for mayor.

Tuesday night’s forum starts at 6:30 p.m. at 4501 Walnut.