I've got some homework to do!

Yes, I admit it, I am pretty out of it when it comes to what's been happening with the municipal elections.

I even find federal elections easier to follow, municipal politics seems so messy and complicated to me. There are too many candidates to follow (heard David mentioned that there were more than 40 running for mayor!), compared to what, three major players in the federal level! So I had not jumped into it yet, I figured I still had time to sort through the mess before election day.

While reading the articles in class, it dawned on me that maybe I didn't have as much time as I thought, all these writers and people polled already had an opinion, what about me?

I knew I was running into trouble as I read the articles in class, I digested The Sun, The Star and the Toronto Life articles alright but by the time I got to the Globe and Mail article, my eyes had started to glaze over, just a little bit.

Working in the financial services industry and having to deal with numbers all day, you'd think I'd be OK with facts and figures on the results of the Nanos Research telephone polls in the Globe article, but my poor brain was already starting to run out of fuel by that time of the night.

And don't even ask me about the All Fired Up article, for a person that hasn't even started to look into the basics of this election yet, it was all a little too much, I felt like telling the writer, whoa, easy there, hang on let me get my facts straight first and then come back and read you.

I was lost and confused.

For a late follower into municipal elections, I needed the basics. The basics as in the 5 W's, the Who, What, When, Where and Why's! Especially the Why... why should I vote for you!

Sure, I must say the Toronto Life article did help alot by giving me a quick snapshot of the poll's results, who the major front runners are and even filled me in on what they look like by adding their photos (thank you). But it wasn't enough for me to be able to make an informed decision on who to elect to represent me and my city.

So I knew I had to hit the books, do my homework and find out who these characters are that want in on the mayor's seat.

And what do you know, as I started to pay attention and watch more, read more and listened more on news related to the municipal elections, long and behold, this week's Now magazine came out with the perfect article for a political newbie like me!

The article called "Who’s the man with the plan? A NOW Magazine election decoder" was simple, straight forward and gave the reader the basics of where each candidates stood on a few selected topics, heck, it was a "decoder".

That's it, that's what I really needed, the Coles Notes on the Toronto Municipal Elections, now that would really help. Hmm, does anyone out there know if it's been made yet? What?! Nothing yet? Oh dear, guess I'll have to go hit the books some more.