Idon't know why anyone would want to be mayor of Miami. Oh sure, it's a lovely place but trying to govern Miami, to lead it forward?

Miami is a city riven by huge disparities between haves and have-nots, between competing and often antagonistic ethnic and racial groups. It has been maladministered for decades, has pension obligations eating it alive and dismal prospective finances. Moreover, the five-member City Commission will soon have two new members facing a steep learning curve.

This is why a number of talented people, both in the private sector and those term-limited out of the Legislature, considered running for mayor and decided against it. Those who decided to run, incumbent Miami commissioners Tomás Regalado and Joe Sanchez, provide a solid, if not particularly inspired, choice.

Blips and hiccups

A onetime state trooper, Sanchez, 44, is a journeyman politician who has been tutored by outgoing Mayor Manny Diaz and largely adopted Diaz's agenda. There've been some blips and hiccups along the way that speak to an intellect that sometimes fails to grasp the nuances of a given issue or the political ramifications.

Sanchez, for example, was a strong supporter early on of Miami 21, Diaz's restructuring of the city's design and building code. When it came to an important first vote, Sanchez suddenly voted against Miami 21. He later reversed himself and supported it, saying he was only trying to save the city from potentially costly lawsuits.

Regalado, 62, is the more complicated of the two and, though some might dismiss him because of his accent, appears to have a better understanding of fundamental precepts of American democracy. (Both men were born in Cuba). Regalado has been a journalist and radio and TV host in Miami for more than three decades.

He has witnessed, reported on and been a player in the evolution of Cuban Americans into an immensely powerful economic and political bloc. Along the way he's had his own blips and hiccups.

There was some business years ago about misusing a city-issued gasoline credit card. The IRS once garnished his commission wages. Regalado, who has served as a Miami commissioner since 1996, has voted for items that have come back to haunt the city, including the outlandishly generous 2007 contracts with the city's labor unions. Those unions all support him, although he is at pains to say he is not their captive.

All for job creation

Sanchez almost always supports the mayor and city manager's proposals. Regalado, by contrast, regularly jousts with the mayor and manager. Regalado was a consistent critic of the baseball stadium, saying it was a great deal for the Marlins and a bad one for the city. Sanchez supported the stadium from the get-go and continues to praise it as a job generator.

Sanchez, who received thousands of dollars from the Marlins and others in the business community, has made job creation his campaign mantra. I wouldn't be surprised to hear him say that building a nuclear waste storage facility in Miami would be OK if it created a lot of jobs.

In the three weeks before the election this race is bound to get nastier. At the raucous Museum of Science debate, which I moderated, Sanchez questioned Regalado's ability to manage the city's finances since he's had problems with his own. Regalado fired back that when his late wife, Raquel, lost her radio job they had financial problems, especially with three children to put through college, but that he doesn't owe the IRS a cent.

Questions for both

A question Sanchez did not raise concerns Regalado's views on Eduardo Arocena, a founding member of the anti-Castro group Omega 7, who was convicted in 1984 of a series of bombings and murders. He's currently serving a life sentence. A 1983 Herald article quotes Regalado, then WRHC radio news director, as leading a fund-raising drive that brought in $21,000 for Arocena. Last year, Arocena's wife asked President Bush for clemency or to have his sentence reduced. It's fair to ask if Regalado supports that.

It's also fair to ask Sanchez to move beyond the sound bites. In one of them, he says Miami cannot return to the days when it was a ``banana republic.'' The better question is what each man will do to make sure Miami doesn't return to the days when it was run by a state oversight board.

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