The only North St. Louis County race for the House that is still in contention features an art teacher in the Ferguson-Florissant School District, Margo McNeil, attempting to retain Clint Zweifel’s seat against Republican T. R. Carr, the mayor of Hazelwood. Carr isn’t fessing up to his dark secret, namely that he’s the Republican in the race. Constituents find themselves faced with a choice between Democrat McNeil and Mayor Carr. Period. He could be a Whig for all that his literature tells you.

Let T.R. Carr sweep his party affiliation under the rug–who could blame him this year? McNeil, though, is a Democrat and proud of it: something of a policy wonk, in fact. When I mentioned that I don’t vote for sales taxes because they’re regressive, Margo had the facts about Missouri’s antiquated tax system at her fingertips. She mentioned that it was initiated in  1931, when $9,000 take home pay a year was as munificent as making $300 thou in current dollars. McNeil is not pleased that people making a measly $9,000 a year are taxed at the top rate.

McNeil has had years to accumulate her knowledge of policy. She was one of the founders, in the eighties, of the Missouri Women’s Network, a group that kept track of pending legislation and lobbied legislators. In fact, back in the day (before internet), she was in charge of the “post card alert” program that let the group’s members know when crucial legislation was scheduled to be heard. Then in the nineties, she devoted her efforts to the MO NEA.

You know you’ve got someone with a sense of this state’s legislative history if she can remember when post cards were as high tech as it got. Still, knowledge of the issues is all well and good, but only if a candidate can get elected. And Margo is facing someone with far more name ID than she has. He’s been the mayor. She’s … served on the Community College Board. That disadvantage is balanced out by the fact that she’s trying to keep Clint Zweifel’s seat, and Clint is very popular in that district. In 2002, he won the seat by an eyelash, but in 2004, he got 69.5 percent of the vote. That tally was so daunting that nobody even challenged him in 2006.

What’s more, Zweifel and Charlie Dooley have sent out mailers loudly proclaiming her to be the Democrat in the race, and Charlie even walked the turf with her. She’s got support from labor, women’s groups, education groups, and the Sierra Club. Their support is showing up on her balance sheet. The eight day before election report says she’s raised $91,901 all together, with an astounding $25,250 in the last reporting period alone. She’s been spending it, too. She’s down to just $1,601.

Carr has been less well funded, with a total of $44,905–$11,325 of it raised in the last reporting period–and 24,240 on hand. Looks like he’s planning a big last minute blast of … something.

Whatever that may be, my money is on McNeil to hold this seat for the Dems. Not by 69.5 percent. But if she just gets in by half an eyelash, she’ll prove herself.

This race isn’t going to be a blowout, so if you live anywhere close to her, feel free to offer your services. And if you live halfway across the state, well, there’s always ActBlue.