Pick One!

Campaign guru: Jeff "the Goon" Roe, a former chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, whose campaigns are notorious for slime and intimidation

Base of support: Labor and conservative Republicans. Nace has said Republicans represent only 8 percent of her support, but the size of their donations and their reputations for partisanship have led observers to wonder whether Nace has sold her soul.

Rich and powerful donors: Various local firefighters unions ($16,650), state Sen. Matt Bartle ($2,975), lobbyist Jewell Patek ($1,275)

Entourage: Shadow and Sugar, her miniature long-haired dachshunds

Sworn enemy: As outgoing mayor, Emanuel Cleaver fought against Nace's re-election in 2003. Cleaver said Nace had ignored requests to fix the sidewalks around his church; Nace told Cleaver to get in line behind everyone else waiting for infrastructure repairs. A chill remains. To help her run her mayoral campaign, Nace picked Roe, a GOP operative who worked for Jeanne Patterson, Cleaver's opponent in his 2004 race for Congress.

Relationship with Kay Barnes: Strained. Nace was an outspoken member of a generally obedient City Council.

Proud moment: Nace cast the only no votes on two appalling TIF projects in the Northland: the Briarcliff hotel and a shopping center at North Oak Trafficway and Vivion Road.

Should be embarrassed about: Nace claimed that she was misquoted in a September 2006 Star story about MAST ambulance workers, who were deciding whether to remain with the city's firefighters union. According to the Star, Nace said the MAST workers would still have a contract if they left the union. But in a suck-up letter to union honcho Louie Wright — whose support she coveted — the councilwoman claimed that she had offered no opinion about the contract.

Nixonian flourish: Nace has talked about doing away with the city's earnings tax, which represents 45 percent of the city's general fund. But what would she replace it with? Nace can't say. "We need to keep discussing this, and I intend to do that," she said at a candidate forum.

Somewhat revealing personal detail: She filed for divorce from Husband No. 3 after less than a year of marriage. Husband No. 4 works in the city's animal-health division.

Looks like: Terri Garr

Albert Riederer
One-line bio: Riederer is a former Jackson County prosecutor turned tax lawyer who has made a career out of choice political appointments — including a judgeship on Missouri's Western District Court of Appeals and a $300,000-a-year gig as special deputy liquidator for the sale of Missouri's largest life insurer.

Campaign guru: Richard Martin, who ran Claire McCaskill's Senate campaign last year and Bob Holden's successful bid for governor in 2000

Power spouse: Sandra Midkiff, a circuit judge for Jackson County

Comrade-in-arms: Jackson County legislator Scott Burnett

Rich and powerful donor: Thomas McDonnell, CEO of DST Systems Inc. ($3,000)

More rich and powerful donors: Martin promises that Riederer will be the best-funded guy in the race.

Why he entered the race late in the game: Riederer considered running for mayor late last year. But, he says, "I kept thinking, Someone I want to support will get in the race." When nobody with his ability to "pull people together" stepped up, Riederer says, he put in a call to Martin and joined the crowded field in January. "And it's like the floodgates opened," he told a crowd at the opening of his midtown campaign headquarters. "People opened up their checkbooks."

Proudest moments: He chaired the board of Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance from 1994 to 2006; during that time, he says, he "took that company from zero in 1993 to, today, the largest workers' comp company in Missouri." He also co-chaired last spring's Save our Stadiums campaign.

Should be embarrassed about: At a mid-January forum, Riederer took a cheap shot at Funkhouser, arguing that, as a City Hall insider, Funkhouser was partly responsible for the city's generous tax-break giveaways to developers.

Wishes we'd forget: In 1995, the Star dubbed Riederer "Best Pork Chop" for his $24,000 gig as Katheryn Shields' communications liaison to her own Jackson County Legislature.

Before he was famous: Riederer helped establish a social-justice-oriented law firm in 1973 and sued UMKC on behalf of a gay student group that was denied recognition by an official campus organization.

Needs: Substance. Riederer's campaign pitch amounts to bragging about his abilities as a leader and his promise to craft a 10-year "vision" for the city.

Refuge: His $585,000 house at 54th Street and Wyandotte

Hobbies: Gardening, painting with watercolors, competing in the short course of the Jackson County Triathlon, reading (particularly loved Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees)

Looks like: Andy Sipowicz

Katheryn Shields
One-line bio: Shields is a former Kansas City councilwoman and three-term Jackson County executive, and she is under indictment for mortgage fraud.

Daughter of a: Boiler operator and a housewife

Campaign gurus: Hubby Philip Cardarella and her brother, Donald Shields

Base of support: It appears to be dwindling.

Rich, powerful — and loyal! — donor: Campaign reports filed 40 days before the primary show that Shields' only contributor has been the engineering and construction firm Black & Veatch ($1,000).

Campaign contributions paid for: "Makeup services" from Sharon Sullivan of Fairway ($250, October 11, 2006), makeup from Sullivan ($500, July 21, 2006), makeup from Sullivan ($250, September 28, 2006), makeup from Donna Walters of Mission ($250, June 15, 2006)