In two Seattle City Council election forums in North Seattle last week, Columbia City realtor Darryl Smith and monorail godfather Dick Falkenbury emerged as the most dynamic challengers this election season. Oddly, when it comes to political and financial support, however, both Smith and Falkenbury--decidedly more credible than the usual pack of cranks and oddballs--are lagging behind two snoozer candidates who are picking up mainstream endorsements and campaign cash.

In Judy Nicastro's race, the presumptive top challenger (with nearly $92,000) is Min, a starched-shirt environmental lawyer whose recent strategic makeover smacks of artificial, Heidi Wills-esque ambition. Min, until very recently an oatmeal-bland candidate whose main selling point was that he's the son of Korean immigrants who wants to see more opportunities for disadvantaged people everywhere, has undergone a seemingly radical transformation into a ranting Nicastro basher. At a candidate forum put on by the 43rd District Democrats last Tuesday, Min called Nicastro "a big part of the dysfunction" on the current city council. "Someone I thought was going to be a progressive voice on the council voted against a low-income housing levy and took money from a strip club," he said. In an interview, Min said his new strategy is "about drawing contrasts and saying why I'm running against someone I voted for four years ago." But his criticisms of Nicastro seem trite and scripted (in both recent appearances, Min appeared to read his opening comments off a piece of paper), and the alternative he's offering--a council member who can "build coalitions"--doesn't exactly sizzle with excitement.

In contrast, the man to watch in Nicastro's race ought to be Darryl Smith, an impeccably dressed former actor and black neighborhood activist from Columbia City who deserves much of the credit for turning the once blighted area into the bustling nexus of southeast Seattle. But despite his impressive resumé, Smith is running dead last (at $33,000) in the race for funds.

People who see Smith are invariably impressed with his pro-homeownership vision of middle-class empowerment, as well as his ability to articulate his accomplishments and goals. Like Falkenbury, Smith has a real-world record of accomplishment and little patience for bumper-sticker bullshit. "We are in the middle of a serious middle-class housing crisis," Smith told the 36th District Dems at a forum in Ballard last Thursday. "We do not have to succumb to being an hourglass city with haves and have-nots and no middle class in between." Smith's message is compelling. But the conventional wisdom is that while he might have had a shot in a less crowded race--like that against Peter Steinbrueck--he's doomed, somewhat inexplicably, to be an also-ran against Nicastro and Min.

Apparent lead Pageler challenger Tom Rasmussen, a tiny man who tucks his shirt in as tight as a hospital sheet, has spent nearly his entire adult life in city government. His pitch--"I'm a dedicated city employee who wants to do right by the disabled and elderly"--is, to put it charitably, kind of a yawn. John Wyble, a local campaign consultant, says Rasmussen's momentum (he's raised nearly $90,000 so far and garnered several key endorsements) is "more anti-Margaret sentiment, frankly, than any excitement about Tom." But it's hard to see how Rasmussen--who vowed, at the 43rd District forum, to be a council member "who listens and who can work with other council members to get things done"--would be a huge upgrade from Pageler.

In contrast, Falkenbury--who has raised just $5,800--is a garrulous, hulking gorilla of a guy, with an outsized personality to match his larger-than-life physical presence. He's also exploding with ideas, not all of them cockamamie. His grammatically awkward and somewhat bizarre campaign slogan--"It's time for Seattle to be the future, again!"--perfectly captures both the candidate and the campaign: Falkenbury longs, more than anything, for the "great city that got things done" 40 years ago, as he told the 43rd District Dems--not the "Kafkaesque town" that spends millions expanding Northgate Mall, building a light rail system that won't get people out of traffic, and laying streetcar tracks to serve workers who may never materialize. Given Seattle's frustration with tax-and-spend business as usual, Falkenbury's rap should strike a chord. But so far, he, even more so than Smith, seems to be going nowhere fast.

barnett@thestranger.com