The filing deadline for North Fulton’s municipal elections closed Friday at 4:30 p.m. with a flurry of electoral filings in Roswell and Milton. Alpharetta closed its filing on Wednesday with both open seats now being hotly contested. Johns Creek is canceling its election due to the lack of any competition – all four incumbents up for re-election qualified with no opposition.

Several of the races are profiled in the front section of today’s Sunday Beacon, so I will devote this column to reporting on some of the campaign nuances that you won’t find in the Beacon’s regular news stories.

ROSWELL: BETTY PRICE IN THE POLITICAL "DOGFIGHT" OF HER LIFE

Roswell real estate executive Craig Voth is taking on Roswell icon Dr. Betty Price in November. Voth, a Republican who supported Mitt Romney’s failed Presidential bid in 2008, is planning to run a high-powered and well-funded campaign and told me he believes that Price’s entry into local Roswell politics represents a multitude of conflicting interests. “I support Tom Price, but I don’t I think I’ll be voting for his wife this time around,” he said.

Meanwhile, sources present at Roswell City Hall on Friday told me that Mrs. Price was visibly shaken when she was officially notified that she had opposition in her race. “I believe [Mrs.] Price viewed this race as an entitlement, and didn’t think anyone would take her on,” one observer at the scene told me. Another politico who was in the lobby said, “Even though she was told she would have an opponent, she didn’t believe it. So when she found out, she reacted with both anger and disappointment.”

One local activist close to the situation informed me that Price worked feverishly to avoid opposition. “She worked hard to be unopposed. She worked every imaginable angle to be unchallenged. It didn’t work out for her the way she planned it. Now she’s in a dogfight.”

It is doubtful if Mrs. Price’s husband, U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-GA/6), will get involved in this council race on behalf of his wife, apart from typical spousal support. There is no upside for him – only downside. Price has a brilliant political future ahead of him and could one day run for President.

More than likely, Mrs. Price is on her own in this bid. She may have miscalculated out of the gate, but she has been around the block and she posses a “take no prisoners” bravado that can be formidable. The next seven weeks will determine her electoral prowess-present and future.

DIAMOND DRAWS THE NORTH SIDE’S FRINGE CANDIDATES

The bad news for Roswell Council candidate Nancy Diamond: she drew two opponents in her maiden race in elective politics. The good news: both opponents are on the fringe.

The first is Alex Fudali, who claims he invented RCTV (Roswell Cable Television) ten years ago, secured the funding from Charter Communications ($70,000) and is mad because mayor and council have consistently voted against spending the additional money to broadcast Roswell Council meetings on the free cable channel. Considering the average Roswell meeting draws single digit crowds, this is a tough expense to justify. But Fudali says it has stuck in his throat like a chicken bone for the last decade, and now he is prepared to take matters into his own hands. Fudali also complained about the $540 filing fee to run for Roswell council.

Diamond’s other opponent is perennial candidate James Hargreaves, who has run – and lost – in three prior attempts.

Last January, Hargreaves visited my office and complained that The Beacon did not give him adequate press coverage in his 2007 bid, and asked me for a commitment to devote more ink to his 2009 campaign. I told him his request was fair, and that I would give him print coverage this year that was equal to the vote percentage totals he has averaged in first three attempts. So I pulled the file from my desk drawer, and showed Hargreaves that he has averaged one percent in three tries. “Jim,” I promised, “In the spirit of fairness I will devote the same percentage of Beacon press coverage that your prior three vote totals have averaged, which is one percent.” A man of my word, I will hold to that betrothal, starting now. Oops, I just exceeded it with this paragraph. Sorry, Jim, your press allocation is now used up for 2009 in The Beacon.

THE BACK STABBERS - DIPPOLITO'S NEW THEME SONG?

“Back Stabbers” is the title of a classic song by The O’Jays. It starts like this: “They smile in your face…all the time they want to take your place…the backstabbers.”

We have nominated the lyric as Roswell Councilman Rich Dippolito’s new theme song. ­­­

Dippolito, who was frantically recruited in the frenzied last hours of the 2007 Roswell Council race by Councilwoman Lori Henry, promptly ditched Henry in her mayoral race, preferring to stay “neutral.” He did this even though Henry brokered a deal to get another candidate out of the race at the last minute in support of Dippoltio. Henry then put her entire campaign apparatus behind him, expending much of her political capital in helping him to victory. Dippolito spun his way out of that one, claiming mayoral rival candidate David Tolleson helped him, too, by putting a sign up in his yard.

The other elected official who worked tirelessly for Dippolito in that race was Councilman Kent Igleheart, who did his website and engaged key neighborhoods night after night.

Now that his comrade in arms and colleague Igleheart is in a re-election battle royal of his own with newcomer candidate Jim Pollock, you would expect Dippolito to support his “friend” right? Nope. Dippolito has now turned around and knifed Iglheart, and says he is endorsing Pollock. His new spin: Dippolito says he promised Pollock his support earlier this year. But that was when Pollock was going for an open seat in lieu of trying to take out two-term incumbent Igleheart. Warning: if you invite Dippolito to your house, hide the steak knives. They could be deadly.

MILTON: SHE'S BAAACK!

You’ve got to hand it to Milton Councilwoman Julie Zahner-Bailey. She is one of the most effective campaign politicians on the North Side. In a stealthy strategy that her team kept under wraps for months, she quietly recruited a very formidable candidate, Bernard Wolff, to take on arch-rival incumbent Karen Thurman in the November Milton election. Wolff filed for office at end of day on Friday. Zahner-Bailey kept it eerily silent, and lulled her opponents into thinking they would go unchallenged, so they wouldn’t be out raising money in the summer. Zahner-Bailey needs one more vote on Milton Council to wrest away a working majority coalition from Mayor Joe Lockwood, and she is expected to go all out to help elect Wolff, a life long Milton property owner who holds a Wharton MBA. And she is trying to pick off the most the vulnerable incumbent of those up for election: Thurman. We don’t ever underestimate JZB. Thurman is at grave risk in this race.

LEAVE IT TO BILL

Reports have confirmed that Milton Councilman Bill Lusk had an opponent, but the wryly incumbent talked him out of filing at the last moment. Lusk, a very accomplished businessman, is known for packing the lethal combination of possessing a soothing bedside manner with a sledge hammer in tow. So we don’t know if he sweet talked him, convinced him, laid down the proverbial gauntlet or used all three techniques, but ‘ole Bill gets a free ride to another four years regardless. That’s savvy politics.

LONGORIA SUSPICIOUS?

Crooked Creek Homeowners Association official Joe Longoria, who is challenging popular incumbent Tina D’Aversa, did not return calls to me by press time. In a bizarre conservation, I did reach his wife by phone on Friday night, but she did not believe I was who I said I was. So I directed her to the Beaconcast website, and let her find our office number on the site, and then call me back at my extension, which she did. But when she called me back, she said I could have posted the site as a prank and made the whole thing up, so she needed more verification as to my authenticity before she would talk to me on the phone further. I guess I didn’t stutter enough in the dialogue, which would have been a dead giveaway. Fluency has its disadvantages, after all.

JOHNS CREEK CANCELS ELECTION

Sorry, no election for Johns Creek. It’s cancelled, saving the city $159,000. All four incumbents, including Mayor Mike Bodker, filed for re-election without opposition. Bodker, the King of Johns Creek, doesn’t need no “stinkin’ election!” Apparently, neither does his council. If you want a job for life, you have two choices: the Federal government, or the municipality of Johns Creek, GA.

BEACON RADIO SHOW TODAY AT 11AM ON WGKA 920 AM

Don’t forget to tune in to our radio show today at 11:00 a.m. on WGKA 920 AM. High School Football with John Breech and North Fulton Politics with yours truly. You won’t want to miss it! If you don’t have a radio, go online and get the live stream on the net. 920wgka.townhall.com.