Doorbells ringing and push cards being left all over Adams County signal county political campaigns are fully under way.

For many residents of the City of Natchez, all eyes are looking 12 months into the future.

In one year, June 7, 2016, city residents will have a general election to choose the city’s mayor and board of aldermen.

While the races for aldermen will likely fuel speculation at some point, at the moment, only the top dog is under careful scrutiny.

Over nearly the last 50 years, only six men have been mayor of Natchez.

The early and high volume of speculation over who will run indicates next year’s mayoral race should be a good one with several candidates throwing their hats in the ring.

If that happens, the city will be better off. On Election Day, nothing worse exists than simply having two choices — a single name on the ballot or a space to write in a candidate.

More choices almost always cause more issues to be brought to light and invigorates more of the voters.

At this point all the potential candidates with the exception of the incumbent are being overly coy about their potential interest in running for the office.

That’s OK, for now, but hopefully those who are interested actually will make their intentions official soon.

Twelve months will fly by quickly, and the city certainly has enough issues that need attention to make the next mayor’s race one for the record books.