Tuesday’s forum for Lewiston mayoral candidates at L-A College shows the audition to replace Lionel Guay has two leads, Laurent Gilbert and Normand Rousseau, and two supporting cast, Charles Soule and Leah Poulin.

Candidates Soule, Gilbert, Rousseau and Poulin overlap little. Poulin is all optimism, with endless enthusiasm for changing Lewiston’s image, mainly through education. She envisions Kennedy Park, for example, with families lunching on red-and-white checked picnic blankets, once the park sheds its unsavory reputation.

Gilbert is all resume; reciting his experience in his opening statement took longer than the time allotted him. He’s also the most politically polished candidate. It started with his mayoral “exploratory committee,” and has evolved into slick insertions of buzzwords like “Brookings Institution” into his lexicon.

The only item missing from Gilbert’s overflowing curriculum vitae is being elected to office.

Rousseau is all experience, saying he graduated from Lewiston’s “school of hard knocks.” “It’s one thing to hear about it, it’s another thing to live it,” he told the forum audience. “I know what it’s like to be poor, on social services. I worked in the mills and the shoe shops to support my family.”

He speaks strongly for the development of Lewiston, and lets the development of Lewiston speak for him. A councilor for the past five years, Rousseau points to the hundreds of millions in economic development in Lewiston during that time as indicative of his leadership and ability.

Soule is a critic. The mayor’s role, he said, is to “point out where city administration [is] headed in the wrong direction.” Soule is against using public funds for private investment, and against privatizing waste disposal.

About the only issue he supports is combining Lewiston-Auburn into the city of “Great Falls” – a quirky and attractive spin on collaboration. But this positive sentiment was overshadowed when Soule divulged his understanding of cultural relations comes from his living “in the heart of the jungle” on Bartlett Street.

After five spins at running for mayor, Soule should know – by now – the ignorance displayed by such phrases.

We’re cheered by Gilbert’s resolute stance on collaboration, and his embrace of cultural diversity. Rousseau’s experience on the council over the past five years is invaluable, and his community roots are deep. Poulin’s energy is needed and should be utilized. Soule’s time – as evidenced by his statements – has not yet come, again.

Guay’s term expires at year’s end, meaning the mayoral race will be contested again in November. This abbreviated term will create a challenging political environment for whomever is chosen Feb. 27.

It’s perhaps one of the only things these four candidates have in common.