One word may explain why no one has stepped up to challenge Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels this fall: potholes.

Nickels was still on a Hizzoner Honeymoon four years ago when crews hit the streets, filling in and sealing up long-sunken spots all over Seattle. And people noticed. They noticed that their transmissions were still intact when they got to work, that the little things were being taken care of and that their tax dollars were going to something other than that new City Hall building they had no reason to visit.

The filled potholes were a city improvement you could see every day.

Those smoother roads paved the way for the Big Man to implement his big ideas, no matter how big his critics.

They are the ones who watch city politics like most people watch "Survivor." They reeled when Department of Neighborhoods head Jim Diers had his torch put out, and they grew suspicious when Nickels formed an alliance with Paul Allen and started a little camp on South Lake Union.

And they've been struggling to line up a competitor for November. Even Mark Sidran, who ran against Nickels four years ago, won't bite.

No one can deny we've had quieter Fat Tuesdays these past few years.

"I know sometimes he has ruffled some feathers along the way," Sidran said of Nickels in The Seattle Times this week. "But that is sometimes the consequence of leadership."

In truth, most people don't watch city politics that closely. They don't care if the mayor and Councilman Peter Steinbrueck are sparring over the fate of a city analyst or whether council members have to ask Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis for everything but a hall pass.

The bitter presidential and gubernatorial elections have cleared the cheap seats. We've got better things to do.

Why isn't anyone running against Nickels? Who cares?

"It's public apathy toward politics in general," said Jack Cline, a consultant to Bank of America who was having coffee yesterday across the street from City Hall. I went there certain I'd get an earful of caffeine-powered conspiracies.

But all I got were shrugs.

"Politics have been overrun by marketing and deceit," said Cline, of Mercer Island.

Does he think Nickels is doing a good job?

"Haven't a clue," he said.

Keith Lockwood, a banker who moved to Seattle last year from Olympia, isn't impressed with how the city is being run.

"One-way streets lead to dead-ends," he said. "The lack and expense of parking ... "

Any thoughts on Nickels?

"My office is on the eighth floor and looks into the mayor's office," he said, and then paused.

"He seems beatable."

Across the way, two men who didn't want to be questioned or quoted told me to sit down anyway.

Is Nickels a good mayor?

"I don't like any of them," one of them said. "But he's unbeatable."

It's the potholes, isn't it?

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

Kristopher. She won't forget.