Yesterday it seemed that Atlanta mayoral candidate Mary Norwood had far outpaced her opponent Kasim Reed in the polls. But this morning Atlantans awoke to the news that the two candidates were once again hitting the campaign trail just hours after vote tallies placed them in a runoff with each other.

According to the AJC: if elected mayor, Reed said he would first focus on “starting to put more police officers on the street to secure our city. We’ve got to turn the tide of violence in Atlanta. We’ve got to recognize that we have an organized gang problem in our city.”

Asked about the prospect of being the first white mayor of Atlanta in a generation, Norwood said, “I have said all along that this is about uniting Atlanta.” But voters I spoke with yesterday aren’t too sure about Norwood or her plans for Atlanta.

Atlanta has always touted itself as the urban entertainment mecca of the South. But all of that is expected to change if Norwood takes office. Urbanites fear that Norwood, who is a Buckhead resident, will lower taxes in her posh Buckhead neighborhood while raising taxes outside of the perimeter where most urban blacks migrated after the Olympics.

According to the AJC, both candidates appeared before daybreak on WSB-TV, with Reed saying that he and Norwood “have run a high-road, high-minded campaign, and it’s going to be left to us to make sure we do not divide this city during this very important election.”

People, please get out and vote for Kasim Reed for Mayor. It is vitally important that we get out the vote! As the legendary Sam Cooke once said, a Change is gonna come. But it might not be the change we want or need after 36 years of black mayorship in Atlanta.

Speaking of promised Change that never quite materialized, we learned yesterday that Barack Obama decided not to bother watching the elections returns. Instead, he watched an NBA basketball game.

We’re not surprised that he wouldn’t be interested in watching the returns after a GOP sweep in NJ and Virginia that shined a harsh spotlight on Obama’s political weakness.