The political racing season opened Aug. 5 with very few fireworks.

There are a handful of challenged city council races in the cities I cover, but most candidates made it to the ballot without a battle.

Deciphering the message in the plethora of unchallenged seats is similar to reading tea leaves soaked in succotash and out-of-date buttermilk. We can call it complacency, euphoria or a TV show about lying teenage girls was on and couldn’t be missed to sign up for an elected office. Platitudes are easy, truth likes to hide.

In challenged races I avoid forecasting the winners, losers and whiners. I never predict the future of anything unless it involves a horse race.

I could handicap a political race if I could get reliable past performances from the Daily Racing Form like I do with the Longacres Mile or Kentucky Derby.

Past performances or PPs are charts and notes describing how a horse ran in earlier races. PPs from the Form are not given the happy guy spin. They are facts and observations – straight, no chaser.

Here are some examples of PPs I dreamed up for political races:

• Fell down at the half-mile pole because it was too darn hot and the sun was in his eyes;

• Finished last because he ate two Big Macs and three orders of fries last night (Mmmm – those were the days);

• Ran off the track at the far turn because he wanted his peanut butter and jelly and cheese sandwich with the crust cut off like his grandma always did;

• Got really tired and started whimpering when the gate opened because he stayed up too late watching Book TV (that would be me, in fact they all could be me).

Figuring out who wins and who loses in city races is a roll of the loaded bones.

In the years I have covered races I have only seen one or two candidates with motives that were less than straight and cheery.

I believe most local candidates think they can do good and they want to help their community. The question for a voter is: does a candidate’s vision of good line up with your vision – and more importantly, do you have an idea what is best for your community?

Many people, including me, kvetch about the various elected bodies and officials. Running for office to fix the kvetch is often not the zip-a-dee-doo-dah day most imagine, and once on the inside elected officials find our government, by design, moves like a crabby iceberg.

So for all our kvetching it is best to remember, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars….”

Local races may seem uninspired compared to the Trumpmobile, but a city council race affects a community where it lives, drives and plays Yahtzee.

The happy news is the Constitution was crafted by the founders to protect us from the worst – and it has done its job well for a couple of hundred years.

Alexis de Tocqueville in his two-volume “Democracy in America” adroitly described the political system he observed in 1840.

“Men will not accept truth at the hands of their enemies, and truth is seldom offered to them by their friends…. Each partisan is hurried beyond the limits of his opinions by the excesses of his opponent, until he loses site of the end.”

OK, I am not sure how that fits in with my rambling, but I like what Big Al wrote and I don’t have a better way to end this column other than – vote.