It’s a good sign that you’ve paid too much attention to a political race when you find yourself thinking “rerun” when you hear a candidate making his stump speech. It’s especially bad when it’s the fourth or fifth time you’ve heard it, and the election is still three-and-a-half months away.

I had a rerun moment tonight listening to Karl Dean give his opening remarks at the Nashville Civic Design Center forum at the Main Library. Dean, the first candidate to speak, launched into his introduction about how he came to Nashville for education and stayed for love after he met his wife, who Dean says is smarter than he is, at Vanderbilt law school. He then cited Nashville’s 16 years of “high quality, progressive, ethical leadership” under Phil Bredesen and Bill Purcell and begins to make the case that he is their natural successor. To be fair, this isn’t a bad parallel to want to draw as a candidate, and Dean is getting more comfortable making the speech. I have to keep in mind that, with his poll numbers supposedly in the single digits this early in the race, I’m one of the few people in the city who’s heard Dean speak.

As usual, ahem, Dean mentioned that his top three priorities are education, public safety and economic development.