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Here’s the early handicap on the race to become Saskatoon’s next mayor.

Incumbent Mayor Don Atchison, Ward 6 Coun. Charlie Clark and former mayor Henry Dayday have announced their intention to compete for the top job on city council in the Oct. 26 election.

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Bent on incumbents

Since 1976, Saskatoon has only had four mayors, including the one-term anomaly Jim Maddin (2000-2003). Regina’s had six mayors in the same time span; Canada’s had nine prime ministers and the United States has had seven presidents. Saskatoon does not seem to like change at the top. Only three times in the city’s history has an incumbent mayor lost a re-election bid. Only three current councillors got there by upsetting an incumbent: Clark and Darren Hill in 2006 and Zach Jeffries in 2012.

Fifth-term fails

However, you’d have to go back to Irishman John Sproule Mills in 1953 for the last time a Saskatoon mayor won a fifth consecutive term, like Atchison is trying to do. Back then, council terms lasted only one year. The last mayor to try for five straight terms was Dayday in 2000 and he finished an embarrassing third.