Dave Cieslewicz and Paul Soglin have found themselves dueling again for the Madison mayoral office as they did in 2003 when Cieslewicz narrowly beat Soglin to become mayor.

Now, Cieslewicz is running as incumbent and Soglin is challenging again for his third stint as mayor. Soglin became mayor at age 27 in 1973. He was re-elected in 1989 and served until 1997 when he stepped down to run for U.S. Congress, which was unsuccessful.

What voters will notice about this mayoral run is that the two candidates are quite similar. Both candidates have traditionally liberal views and they even agree on some issues.

The economy is a primary focus for both candidates in this race. Cieslewicz said he wants high-tech employers, but also well-paying construction jobs. He also stresses what he calls a “ladder-up” system, to ensure employment opportunity for entry-level applicants. Cieslewicz understands that Madison Area Technical College plays a big role in that.

“Madison College provides training for a very important segment of the workforce,” Cieslewicz said. “The city is going to be a partner in that.”

This is one of the issues that both candidates agree on.

“The education available at Madison College can really provide opportunity to individuals and simultaneously strengthen Madison and Dane County,” Soglin said.

Cieslewicz announced that he was going to run again for mayor in December. His love for the city drew him into the race. Cieslewicz never doubted he would continue on as mayor. He wants to see what he can do to improve the city.

“We’ve had eight years of rapid progress,” Cieslewicz said.

Cieslewicz attributes the unemployment rate at 4.4 percent to the progression. He says Madison has a low unemployment rate for the times, it is still a high rate for Madison.

“In a good economy, it should be under 3 percent. It’s currently at 4.4,” Cieslewicz said.

Also, he attributes measures such as adding 64 new police officers in the past seven years and working with those officers to promote public safety.

“We created new units to concentrate on gang activity and career criminals,” Cieslewicz said.

Cieslewicz has worked on strengthening neighborhoods. He thinks that building strong camaraderie between neighborhoods.

“Some of those police officers became neighborhood patrol officers actually walking the streets of the neighborhood and walking out of their cars,” Cieslewicz said.

Soglin, as former mayor, has deep connections to the city as well. He described the mayoral position as the toughest job he has ever loved. However, he is not back in the running for mayor just for that reason.

Soglin believes the city is facing major issues that need to be addressed. The challenges that he feels the city has been enduring are poverty, economic development and job creation.

Soglin is concerned about the future of the children of the city. About half of the city’s children live in poverty, Soglin said in the People’s Candidate Forum at the Barrymore Theatre on March 22. Soglin emphasizes the point that the unemployment rate was lower when he was in office throughout the 1990’s.

“We were usually competing with Lincoln, Neb. for lowest in the country,” Soglin said.

In the primary, Soglin edged out Cieslewicz by approximately 1,200 votes. Nick Hart and John Blotz who are also in the race, received just under 600 votes. Dennis De Nure received 274 votes.