In the words of late baseball great Yogi Berra, it's deja-vu, all over again.
Once more, the Blytheville mayoral race will be decided by a runoff.
Just like in 2010, Mayor James Sanders and Councilman Tommy Abbott will have to campaign another two weeks and try to add/keep votes.
Last Tuesday, Abbott was the leading vote-getter with 1,647 votes (47.7 percent), while Sanders had 1,513 votes (43.82 percent) and Gwendolyn Orr had 293 (8.4 percent).
Abbott also had the most votes in the 2010 general election -- 1,741 to Sanders' 1,412 -- but Sanders prevailed in the runoff by the narrowest of margins, 1,613 (50.5 percent) to 1,579 (49.5 percent).
It will be interesting to see whose side Orr's supporters select -- or if they stay home.
With the race being so tight, they could be the difference, should they all choose one candidate over the other.
Of course, the critical factor in a runoff is voter turnout -- which office-seeker can get his or her supporters to return to the polls.
On Nov. 25, we'll find out whether Sanders or Abbott did a better job getting folks to cast ballots again.
At this point, it doesn't matter who gained the most votes in the general; both candidates are at 0-0 right now.
They will have to work extremely hard over the next two weeks to rally the base and pick up new voters.
I could see the race going either way. The only prediction I'll make is the winner will have 50 or so more votes than the loser. Again, it all depends on voter turnout.
Every vote counts. Those eligible to vote for Blytheville mayor and don't do so have no right to complain about the winner's decisions or lack of action.
------
To me, the biggest surprise was Orr getting fewer than 300 votes. I thought she campaigned pretty hard over the last several weeks. Now I didn't expect her to win, necessarily, but I thought she would have a double-digit percentage, perhaps as much as 15 percent.
Elections aren't easy to predict, that's for sure.
------
Switching gears, we're working on our first-ever basketball magazine. "MissCo Hoops" will be released later this month and feature all the boys and girls high school teams in Mississippi County. There will be full color photos, conference and team previews and more.
The 52-page magazine is a joint venture of the Blytheville Courier News and Osceola Times.
Soul Reflections Photography was kind enough to take the cover photo, and I think readers will enjoy it.
The basketball magazine will be similar to the football magazine that debuted in August.
The sports staffs of the Courier News and Osceola Times are pretty excited about the publication. Hopefully, readers will have as much fun flipping through it as we are putting it together.
Once again, subscribers will get a complementary copy inside their Courier News newspapers as our way of saying thank you.
The magazines will be available for purchase as well.
------
Hat's off to Blytheville head coach Ben Fisher and his staff for leading the Chickasaws into 5A state playoffs. It was quite a turnaround from a 1-9 season a year ago.
The Chicks draw a tough opponent in the opening round -- Pulaski Academy, ranked No. 1 in 5A and the team with home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
At 6-4, Blytheville is in the playoffs for the first time since 2011. The Chicks will finish over .500 for just the second time in six years. They've had a good season and it seems like the program has turned the corner. I wish them the best of luck in the playoffs.
mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com