It is possible the city's mayoral race will be decided with the Democratic primary in September between incumbent Daryl Finizio and challenger Michael Passero.

If Finizio loses that September primary, he has made no provisions to be on the November ballot, his campaign staff tells me.

That would make for a long period for him to be a lame duck.

Let me begin later here to consider all the ways we would miss our first full-time mayor in a generation.

On the other hand, if Passero loses in September, the New London election fun can continue for another six or seven weeks. And the city will still have a chance to decide whether to love, or hate, Mayor Finizio for four more years.

Passero submitted enough signatures before an August deadline to secure a place on the November ballot. That could create a three-way race between Finizio the Democrat, Passero the independent and Bill Vogel, the Republican.

Since the Republican would have little chance of ultimately winning in a Democratic stronghold like New London, it wouldn't surprise me if the party's candidate threw his support to Passero, more appealing to many party faithful than tax-'em-'till-they-holler Finizio.

A three-way November mayoral race could be much more than a repeat of the September Passero vs. Finizio primary, since the Republican candidate, if he stays in, could also split the Passero-leaning vote and improve a Finizio candidacy.

But then Passero may pull off a win in September, and the music stops. He would almost certainly win a two-way race with the Republican in November.

If Passero wins in September, they could indeed start gold gilding his name on the office door.

And, yes, a Finizio loss in September would mark the end of a unique political era in New London.

I don't think a Mayor Passero could ever be as colorful or, dare I say, as entertaining, as a Mayor Finizio.

I for one would miss the unending drama out of City Hall.

Who could forget, for instance, the mayor's first staged press conference, in which he made the press stay at the bottom of a winding road, while he theatrically descended, to announce he was voiding the election results on the question of whether to sell Riverside Park to the Coast Guard, before all the ballots were even counted.

Remember when he ordered police to stop arresting people for marijuana charges, before prosecutors told him he couldn't do that. Remember when he suited up in a bright yellow boxing hat to spar with downtown business owners who wanted to complain about parking and snow-clogged streets.

He told them the city was broke and nothing could change until he raised taxes some more.

Remember when he told Connecticut College students that they needed to vote for more taxes so the city would not go bankrupt, shuttering downtown bars. Remember when he insulted the city's largest employer and told students at Three Rivers Community College that the country doesn't need to build so many submarines.

Remember when he got so much heat for charging Martin Luther King Day marchers an event fee that he ended up paying it himself.

I could go on. It's been fun.

The most startling thing I ever saw the mayor do was release at a press conference a police report into an embarrassing but not criminal incident involving his former opponent for mayor.

The report contained unsubstantiated allegations and was not a public document.

But Finizio gave it to the press anyway, a mean gesture greased by more political venom than I've ever witnessed.

With that in mind, it's good to remember that a lot could happen between now and November.

This is the opinion of David Collins

d.collins@theday.com

Twitter: @DavidCollinsct