San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan now has a primary opponent, Tyrone Wade, but past elections provide strong evidence the two-year incumbent will sail to an early victory in the March 5 primary.

The business developer has been actively involved in the revitalization of Willow Glen’s Lincoln Avenue, revamping the Garden Theater and partnering in The Table restaurant, and led the conversion of the former cannery location on Monterey Highway into a shopping center.

Is a teenage Kiwi—who hasn’t even spent a decade in San Jose—the right musical icon to capture the city in a remotely authentic way?

Predicting the future of politics is a tricky proposition, as Nate Silver pointed out in his NY Times blog and book during the election season. But taking a closer look at local issues, there are a few predictions you can, or can’t, count on in the future.

Turning the page on 2012, it’s also time to close out the final chapter on emails between politicos and Barbara Marshman, the opinionated opinion editor of the Mercury News.