I actually saw Alix Rosenthal this morning, as she handed me a postcard in favor of her candidacy for Board of Supervisors at the Castro Muni Station.

I didn't ask her either of the questions I have about her. "Do you have the slightest chance of winning," I wonder. Her incumbent opponent, Bevan Dufty, has refused to comment until the day after the election on a big district event, 10 people injured, 9 by shooting, at the big Castro Halloween party. His refusal to comment is symptomatic of a person who is absolutely sure he's going to win.

The other question "Are you a full-fledged lawyer? If so, why are you semi-closeted about it?"

Alix Rosenthal, who I couldn't vote for but probably would if I could, appeared on the scene as the party hearty candidate. Way into Burning Man, fearing that San Francisco is headed toward being less frolicsome than in the past, she was a candidate for well-managed fun. That seemed to be the whole thing.

Then, as time went on, it emerged that she had, as she said, "legal training." A very good thing, I think, especially in her case. When someone is running for office from an alternative place, I am concerned that they wouldn't actually want to do the government job they are seeking, which involves always, many meetings and being serious about pieces of paper.

So it slowly emerges that she works now as a Deputy City Attorney in Oakland. So she already does that meeting, paper life. Very good. She says it would be good to have someone on the Board of Supes who knows how to write laws, which is something she does in her current job.

Sounds good to me. At this point I perceive her platform as being, "Party hearty and write good laws."

Then as the election neared, she put out a newsprint flyer, the size of four pages of a tabloid newspaper, that comments on many city issues, like the city should be greener in its buying policies. Like the murder rate needs to be stopped or it will expand to other, non-poor sections of the city. The day after I read that was Halloween and there was the shooting in the affluent Castro involving youth from poor neighborhoods.

But nothing in the flyer about party hearty.

It said she graduated from the University of Virginia Law School. I'm almost sure she's a lawyer, but the way she doesn't talk about it would fit not having passed the California Bar, which is notoriously hard. Would Oakland employ a deputy city attorney who hasn't passed the California Bar? I don't know. Why doesn't she say the sentence, "I am an attorney," or however she wants to put it?

I don't know. Maybe she is a full-fledged lawyer, and in her Burning Man and party life she's gotten used to being coy about it.

Anyway, I like her, and can't vote for her. Interesting campaign, though. It looks like she started as a no-hope person trying a make a statement, and did better than she expected, partly because of existing unhappiness with the incumbent. Also did better than she expected because she's a perfectly reasonable candidate. She seemed genuinely happy to hand me a postcard, a feeling and skill successful politicians need. Common sense says she's lose. Time will tell, and pretty soon.