Thanks to a surge of voters who want to see a uniter in the White House -- meaning Barack Obama -- we have one of Durham's most notorious dividers -- meaning Joe Bowser -- on the Board of County Commissioners.

One-on-one, I find Joe likeable, but I also know from working with him (if that's the right word) on a task force on vocational schools that he can be hostile, rude and disrespectful toward people he disagrees with. He almost single-handedly wrecked the task force.

Because of that, I and others lobbied hard within the People's Alliance to deny him our endorsement in 2004, which helped cost him his re-election. Joe may have mellowed since then, but given the 20-minute lecture he gave me about his problems with the county manager when we bumped into each other in April, I fear we can expect the next four years on the county board to resemble the warfare we had on the school board prior to the 2006 election. Please prove me wrong, Joe.

Bowser's unfortunate victory aside, this year also defines a milestone for me: 2008 marks my 30th year of being active in politics. As an 18-year-old freshman, I banged on doors for a Kennedy-esque Charlestonian who ran against Sen. Strom Thurmond. We were trounced, but it sparked my taste for underdog campaigns.

A few years later I was a South Carolina delegate for Jesse Jackson. Friends called me the "white part of the Rainbow Coalition." We delivered the state, but lost the nomination.

Moving to Durham meant I could join underdog campaigns that sometimes won, as when I cut off my ponytail and borrowed a suit to beat an incumbent on the City Council 15 years ago.

I was considering celebrating these 30 years by offering classes with titles like "What Makes Durham Tick" or "How to Make a Difference in Durham" when Brenda Howerton asked for my help with her campaign.

Those who've read my columns know that this is an endorsement town. With very rare exceptions, a winning candidate needs endorsements from two of the big three political groups: Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, Friends of Durham and the People's Alliance.

With a crowded field of campaigners who could raise big money, the grapevine told us that Brenda's chances of getting endorsements from the two biggest political groups -- Friends and the Committee -- were slim to none. Given her platform support for living wages, affordable health care and dropout prevention, getting an endorsement from the People's Alliance was possible, but no Alliance-backed candidate had won a race without also getting a boost from one of the two bigger groups.

Under those circumstances, chances of winning seemed poor. So I joined up right away, offering to help Brenda with strategy and getting her message out.

We figured that with the presidential race drawing new voters in, conditions would be fluid. Meaning that a creative, guerilla campaign running on a shoestring with a candidate like Howerton, who worked hard, inspired people and had a broad-based track record, could win. Maybe. Possibly. If the wind was at our back.

When Brenda told me on the phone that she had narrowly lost the Committee's backing and that the Committee had endorsed three men, I told her, "I think you might have just won this thing."

Within hours, righteously angry black women leaders of Durham were scorching the cell towers to ring up Brenda to offer support and express their outrage that the Committee hadn't endorsed any women for the county board. She was flooded with invites to luncheons, sorority gatherings and ladies pinochle games.

She was already campaigning hard, visiting beauty parlors and early-voting sites, and the campaign team -- overwhelmingly made up of strong black women -- was in full swing. That was the wind at our backs that the press and the bloggers completely missed.

So now you know the backstory. Howerton captured the fifth seat, 800 votes ahead of a Committee-endorsed candidate. For me, I'm counting this victory as the beginning of another 30 years of being politically active.

So is there any consolation for the voters who want a uniter in the White House but inadvertently put a divider on the Board of County Commissioners? Well, the national group that trained Obama as a community organizer who could lead people across lines of race, class and religion -- also trained Democratic nominee for county commissioner Brenda Howerton.

(Frank Hyman managed the city's successful 1996 bond campaign.)