Well, if I wasn't already a complete and total Darcy Burner partisan, my foray today through the latest campaign finance disclosure filings would've sealed the deal: A $1,000 contribution from satirical songwriter Tom Lehrer, one of the half-dozen or so writers I consider a major influence on my own development as a writer.

You may remember Lehrer from such classic songs as National Brotherhood Week or The Vatican Rag, or perhaps not remember him from the number of songs he wrote for the children's TV show The Electric Company. Yes, I was one of those geeky kids who collected comedy albums, not popular music, and I still pull Lehrer's albums out occasionally to the utter disinterest of my daughter. Except for Poisoning Pigeons in the Park. She loves that one. Because she's got a wonderfully sick sense of humor like her dad.