There's an old saying among incumbent elected officials on the ballot during election time, ''Run scared or run unopposed.''
Dan Polivka has competition in the race for Trumbull County commissioner, but he shouldn't be too scared.
Republican John M. Hull of Hubbard is a pleasant enough of a fellow and his intentions are good, but the mountain he needs to climb to defeat Polivka, a two-term commissioner and Trumbull County's Democratic Party chairman, is steep, probably too steep.
The deck is stacked against Hull, 36.
Hull is a Republican and Republicans normally don't do well in the Democrat dominated Trumbull County.
Hull is new to the game, and he's dipping his toe into Trumbull County politics for the first time this election to run against Polivka.
Hull can't spend as much money as Polivka. Campaign finance reports filed after the March primary election show that Hull had only $237 to spend compared to Polivka's war chest of more than $44,000.
And although Hull, a native of Youngstown, has lived in and worked in the Mahoning Valley for years, he's new to Trumbull County, only having moved into Hubbard from Youngstown a few years ago, so his name isn't known widely.
Sure, Polivka has had his missteps, but those bad moves aren't enough for Hull to defeat Polivka, whose been in one elected office or another for a quarter century.
Still, Hull, a former police officer and dispatcher in Youngstown for 11 years who now owns a game bird and poultry farm, is giving it his best effort.
He said his campaign has been mostly door-to-door and he intends to attend candidate nights in Mecca, Niles, Howland and Liberty. He said he's also trying to find some inexpensive campaign signs.
Hull said he is running to make county government more accountable, slim it down and shift government responsibility more to the private sector. Sharing services and resources is another of Hull's priorities.
The Trumbull County Bar Association has released its judicial preference poll in the race for Eastern District Court Judge.
And the ''preferred'' candidate is ... neither.
Neither candidate, attorney Robert Platt of Cortland or attorney Randil Rudloff, also of Cortland, was preferred over the other by members of the county bar association. To be the ''preferred'' candidate, a candidate must receive 66 2/3 percent of all votes cast.
The bar isn't releasing the percentage received by each candidate.
Bar association president Jason Earnhart said it has been the practice of the bar to not release the percentages received by candidates if they receive less than the percent needed to be the preferred candidate.
Reached Friday, neither candidate wanted to say the percent of the vote they received.
The seat is open because Judge Ron Rice left to run for Common Pleas Judge. He is not opposed.