Diary of an undecided voter

February 2009. Mayor Menino pretending he hasn’t decided whether to run again. Utter nonsense. Obviously just wants to delay start of campaign. Sit-down with Sam Yoon. Impressed with his smarts. Yoon as mayor? Maybe.

April 2. Menino in hissing match with Sail Boston about Tall Ships visit. Tired of mayoral sulksmanship, feuds, grudges, pettiness, temper. Time for a change.

April 22. Menino declares, blathers on about how he hasn’t finished his job. Testy with reporters when pressed about debates. Uh-oh. Have seen this movie many times before.

June 3. Sit-down with Michael Flaherty. Dad is old Boston, Bill Bulger-ite. But son seems different . . . doesn’t he? Why Mayor Flaherty? Before long, find self trapped in extended spiel about CitiStat and promptly emptied trash barrels. (SOS: Black coffee, please.) Declares he’s pro-charter school - good, good - but is he tough enough to reform Fire Department, whose union backs him? Not much evidence. Menino, at least, has grown a belated backbone. Good, better? Hmm. Bad, worse, maybe.

Summer. Menino calls for in-district charter schools. Old mayor can learn new tricks. Incumbent suddenly looking better.

My home neighborhood, Charlestown, all sprucy. New police station. City Square Park leafy green. Streets paved, swept. Remember when broken sewer pipe on major street reeked for weeks under Ray Flynn? Give Menino credit. Attends to the basics. Zounds, am I leaning his way?

Sept. 2. First debate of prelim. Idle thoughts. Is the mayor speaking Swahili? And is “I’m workin’ with the neighborhoods’’ his answer to everything? Yoon presses critique that mayor has too much power. Food for thought.

Sept. 10. Second prelim debate. Yoon, in pledge to cede mayoral power, starts to sound like a young King Lear. Flaherty unfocused. Kevin McCrea once again throwing amusing haymakers. Menino, um, bores his way along. Maybe best to stick with plodder you know?

Sept. 22. Despite controversy over top aide’s wrongly deleted e-mails, Menino wins big in prelim. Flaherty a distant second. Voters find incumbent good enough. Could be right.

Sept. 29. Flaherty teams up with Yoon. Odd couple suddenly seems like dynamic Gen X duo. Find self leaning Floon-ward.

Oct. 1. First Menino-Flaherty debate raises doubts about each. Queried about blowup at environmental activist, Menino compares himself to CEO. More like Captain Queeg. Or Blackbeard. But Flaherty seems to have forgotten Yoon. Dream team just a scheme? May write in McCrea.

Oct. 19. Second debate. Does Menino honestly think biggest mistake is not scoring more local aid? And that he deserves a B+ or B on the schools? Idle thoughts: Would like to have some of what he’s smoking, now that it’s basically legal. Flaherty wins debate. He deserves a vote . . . doesn’t he?

Late October. Firefighters back in news with over-the-top ads against Menino. Flaherty’s big chance. Surely he will take exception to them. No. He sidesteps. Backbone? Of a chocolate eclair, maybe. Menino has at least tried for reform. Maybe he’s really the best we can do.

Oct. 26. Mayor comes to Globe. Rambling, visionless, vacuous. Yoo-hoo, anybody home in there?

Yikes, is he really the best we can do?

Oct. 27. Last debate, at Faneuil Hall. Menino talks about trying to make people’s lives better. Give credit, he does care. Maybe he deserves one last . . . Wait, sounds like he’s already starting to backslide on charter schools.

Flaherty hits stride, says we are stuck in neutral. Not quite true, but close enough. He’s right, time for a change.

Oct. 28. Flaherty comes to Globe. Still won’t distance himself from firefighters. Testy, hostile, almost, when queried on subject. Idle thoughts: Are they holding his kids hostage? Is he possessed by political spirit of Bill Bulger?

Maybe it’s not time for a change. Undecided yet again. Sore from political whiplash.

Sad conclusion to shilly-shallying tale: Will vote for whomever I don’t see last.

Scot Lehigh can be reached at lehigh@globe.com.