Playing the part of forum director

Everyone at the Costa Mesa Senior Center on Tuesday seemed certain

I’d be writing about them.

I heard so many “don’t quote me on that” and “you’re not going to

write about us” that I thought I’d stumbled into a retirement center

for former politicians.

Luckily for us all, the only ones seeking office were the city’s

five announced candidates: Allan Mansoor, Planning Commission

Chairwoman Katrina Foley, Planning Commissioner Bill Perkins,

Councilman Gary Monahan and Mayor Linda Dixon.

And, to repeat it just one more time: No, I’m not a candidate,

though more than a few of my lunch- mates figured, at first, I was.

All I was there for was to moderate the political forum.

Which posed a problem: How exactly to go about that, having never

done anything quite like it before?

Certainly, I couldn’t opt for the sarcastic, unfeeling “national

reporter” stance one typically sees during presidential debates, when

questions are fired at the White House hopefuls in the hope of

knocking someone over.

That doesn’t fly so well at the community level, and I have the

suspicion that all the candidates could track me down pretty easily.

I also figured I couldn’t just act like myself because, after all,

I was representing the Daily Pilot and the center’s executive

director, Aviva Goelman, knows my boss, Tom Johnson, too well. So,

knife and fork with lunch, and I even made sure I was fairly, if not

perfectly, ironed.

The route I chose might surprise one, maybe two, of the Pilot’s

readers. It’s a kind of channeling of this paper’s former editor,

Bill Lobdell. And what it amounts to -- at least in my opinion, and

my former boss might disagree -- is a precarious balance between

expert and clown, the persona of one who really knows what’s what but

isn’t in a position to say at that point.

(Come to think of it, Bill may have picked this role up from Paul

Salata, who seems to be able to strike it at ease.)

So there have to be a few, but not too many, jokes. When the

microphone was placed in my hand, I wanted to start off right away

with “B-14,” but I chickened out, quite frankly. I can do it now from

the safety of a computer and desk.

(And I’ll offer it up to Peter Buffa, former Costa Mesa mayor,

Pilot columnist and frequent emcee. No charge, just let me know if it

works, OK?)

I also managed to mispronounce Mansoor’s name only once, mainly

because after the first introduction I just called him “Allan.”

But the job isn’t all about laughs. There needs to be some

feeling, some insight, from the guy with the microphone. That’s the

expert part.

I scored with a reminder of the election date: Nov. 5. Can’t get

much more helpful and insightful than that.

I did make the mistake of not checking the time to see when we’d

started. The forum was supposed to run from 1:30 to 2 p.m., and when

I finally glanced at the clock in the back of the room, it was about

2:20. I think it must mean we started late, but you know how

politicians can go on.

I am happy to report that when it was all over, a brief survey

suggested I had a solid 50% approval rating, probably a number any of

the five running would love. Of course, that comes from just one

woman telling me I’d done well and another handing me a list of

suggestions for how I could improve.

One of them is, don’t allow applause. So, I won’t expect any now.

* S.J. CAHN is the managing editor. He can be reached at (949)

574-4233 or by e-mail at steven.cahn@latimes.com.