After a political hiatus, is Pat Cannon still relevant? 

In 2005, former Charlotte City Councilman Patrick Cannon was, by all accounts, a shoo-in to be the next mayor of the Queen City. But he stepped away from his bid to beat Pat McCrory in order to focus more on his business and family life. Now, Cannon is seeking is old job back, as he runs for an at-large seat on the Charlotte City Council, the last political position he held.

It's been three-and-a-half years since Cannon has been a member of city government, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been visible in the community. Since October 2007, he's hosted the weekly radio show Aiming With Cannon on WQNC (which is on hiatus until the election is over in order to comply with an FCC ruling that requires candidates running for the same office to be given equal time on radio and TV stations.) and Cannon still receives calls from people for help with governmental issues.

But, times and the city's political landscape have changed -- somewhat. If Cannon were to win the at-large seat, it would be like homecoming, since he served with seven of the current council members. McCrory, however, will be gone, the boom of the banking center has burst, the housing market is floundering and everybody is broke. Can Cannon still make changes as a council member in this new era?

"We're in a pivotal time in this city, where seasoned leadership like me, with 12 years experience on the district level and the at-large level, is needed to address the issues like our economy and our safety -- both in our neighborhoods and for our area businesses," he said.

Cannon is one of 11 people running for the four at-large city council seats, but he's the most experienced of all of the candidates vying for the positions.

When Cannon first won a seat on the Charlotte City Council in 1993, he helped to change District 3, reducing crime, paving the way for affordable housing and business development. He took leadership in establishing Charlotte's citizen's review board, which was designed to give the community a voice in dealing with police misconduct. Though some say the citizen's review board doesn't have much bite, Cannon contends that it helped to ease racial tension. Cannon served as chair of the Community Safety Committee, the Housing Committee and vice chair of the Economic Development/Planning Council Committee. He was also a member of the Governmental Affairs Council Committee, and was the council representative to the Charlotte Center City Partners organization.

Cannon said many of the issues he worked on in the past on the council still loom today.

"One thing that doesn't change are problems," he said. "The thing that has to happen, they still must be addressed. Should they be addressed in a different way? Possibly. But if somebody loses a job today, they are worried about how you're going to create a job for them tomorrow."

Cannon said that his desire to serve Charlotte has a lot to do with the fact that he's a native of the city and wants to see the community and its people prosper.

Jeff A. Taylor -- contributing editor for the political blog MeckDeck, which is funded by the John Locke Foundation -- said that this is a wide-open political season for anyone running, and Cannon's name recognition will probably help him in returning to city council -- especially since there isn't a lot of money out there for newer candidates to raise and spend to build their brand.

"Anybody that has any understanding of local issues and wants to get in there and work can make a difference because everything is up in the air right now," Taylor said. "He certainly has the experience, and he's demonstrated the capacity to do it in the past. I don't know why he wouldn't be able to do it now."

Taylor said Cannon's time away from council may help his ideas for the city.

"I always thought that term limits were a good idea, myself," said Taylor. "Going back in and recharging your batteries is kind of good."

Cannon said that he's not coming to city council with rookie ideas, and during these times, he thinks it will take experience to get Charlotte back on track. And he said people want him to represent their issues.

"Even though I haven't been up there on that dais, people still want to see me be representative of them in a public-service capacity," he said. Over the last three-and-a-half years, Cannon said he still receives calls from people to place service requests with the city, and he's done it. While he hasn't been able to vote on issues, he's talked about them on his radio show.

So, why not return to the campaign he left and run for mayor?

Cannon replied: "At present, I have no real desire to want to break ties or make community appointments to cut ribbons and have little veto power. I'm much more interested right now in helping people on those core issues that mean so much to our city. A title is nice, but what is the use of having a title if it's not as impactful as it should be?"