You have five days to cast your vote for the person who could become, as some notable politicos believe, the most influential elected official in the state of Colorado (and only hours if you plan to send your ballot by post). You’re scanning the field of mayoral candidates, looking for a personality to match that of the Mile High City’s previous leader. But that man, who’s taken his charisma to the governor’s office, hasn’t even weighed in on this race—except to remind interim Mayor Bill Vidal of his promise not to run.

Maybe Jeremy Meyer can help. The Denver Post scribe has compiled the best and worst of the 2011 municipal election, and his observations may be entertaining enough to lead you toward making sure your ballot gets into the hands of Elections Division officials before 7 p.m. next Tuesday, May 3. (The mayoral runoff election is slated for June 7.)

Among Meyer’s list is a category for best endorsements, of which this week has seen plenty more, including some familiar names for Jeff Peckman (KHOW’s Peter Boyles) and Michael Hancock (Walter Isenberg). On the same day that Hancock held a press conference detailing the plan for his first 100 days in office (The Spot), Westword editor Patricia Calhoun lamented that one week before the election, even those voters who’d been paying attention to the race hadn’t made up their minds. Based on the 27,000 ballots that had been cast at that time, the locations from which they had been mailed indicated Hancock and Chris Romer were leading, although the analyzing expert warned it was much too soon to derive any sort of takeaway (The Spot).

Peckman, meanwhile, is using an entirely different stick to measure the contenders’ chances: Web searches (The Spot). Counting a more traditional unit—money—Romer and Hancock lead with deeper pockets (Post). With the clock ticking down, talk of building a new National Western Stock Show complex has the race’s top candidates (Hancock, Romer, and James Mejia) expressing differences in opinion (Post).

Still not sure? Expect an onslaught of phone calls this weekend if you haven’t voted yet, says political analyst Katy Atkinson, whose rating of the top five mayoral candidates may also help you make a decision. And there’s always the Post‘s online Voter Guide.