It could be lonely at the top for many Warren County incumbents when voters go to the polls this year.

With just four days left to qualify paperwork to run for 18 county offices and seven district and legislative posts in 2007, 38 candidates have filed to run for office – barely half the number of hopefuls whose names appeared on primary and general election ballots four years ago.

So far, it has kept Circuit Clerk Shelly Ashley-Palmertree’s office quiet.

&#8220No one turned in anything this week,” she said from her small office on the second floor of the courthouse. She is one of 14 incumbents up for re-election on the county and state level here who have yet to draw an opponent.

Ashley-Palmertree, 37, succeeded her father, Larry Ashley, in 2003 when she defeated six other candidates for the office responsible for filing papers in civil and criminal cases, marriage licenses and registering voters. In all, 67 candidates ran for office in Warren County last time.

The political winds are calmer than they once were in northeast Warren County, specifically supervisor District 1, where those winds once blew with gale force.

In 1999, when 54 candidates ran for offices on the local and state level in Warren County, David McDonald defeated four fellow Republicans, including then-incumbent Dwight Woodard, on his way to trouncing four independents.

So far, only one candidate, Vicksburg Factory Outlets general manager Margaret Gilmer, has filed to run in District 1.

McDonald said a host of factors can keep potential candidates from putting their signature on a qualifying document, including time and money.

&#8220I’d like to think it’s because people think I’m doing a good job,” he said.

In addition, &#8220it’s expensive to run a campaign,” McDonald said, adding he puts &#8220about 40 to 50 hours a week” into a job still categorized as part-time by the state and pays $44,812 annually.

The former automobile transmission shop owner said he foresees the usual flood of challengers in the final days of qualifying, comparable to 2003 when 30 candidates rushed papers into the Circuit Clerk’s Office in the final four days.

&#8220I look for two or three people to jump in,” he said.

In District 5, where board president Richard George is running for a fourth non-consecutive term, the incumbent said he knows of at least three challengers who have picked up paperwork from Ashley-Palmertree’s office but have yet to turn it in.

Having one opponent or 10 doesn’t figure to faze George.

&#8220I am what I am,” he said. &#8220What matters is the taxpayers and how we spend their tax money.”

An independent, George, 58, served southeastern Warren County as supervisor from 1992 to 1996, sitting out a term after an unsuccessful run for chancery clerk. Head of the county’s buildings and maintenance department until winning back the seat in 1999, George coasted to victory over two opponents in general election voting in 2003.

District 4 Supervisor Carl Flanders drew two conclusions from this year’s lighter load of candidates.

&#8220Either it’s a sign of apathy or it’s a sign that people have gotten behind one central candidate,” Flanders said.

The first-term former teacher is running for re-election in southeast Warren County in what promises to be a spirited contest, with former supervisor Bill Lauderdale and retired businessman Clifton &#8220Buddy” Hardy having qualified.

&#8220Campaigning is fun,” Flanders said. &#8220It’s what I like doing.”

The other district races are contested and figure to be equally compelling, depending on turnout.

District 2 Supervisor William Banks, while not yet opposed on Democratic ballots, is being challenged by independent Tommie F. Rawlings. In District 3, three-term incumbent Charles Selmon will have a challenger in the Democratic primary from local nonprofit coordinator James Stirgus Jr.

State level races that promised to be humdrum have turned interesting since Sen. Mike Chaney, R-Vicksburg, announced he would not seek a third term in the upper chamber.

Rep. Chester Masterson, 73, pulled out of his re-election bid for House District 54 the same day and entered the race for Chaney’s seat, creating an open seat now contested by local businessman Alex Monsour and attorneys Thomas Setser and Ryan Sadler, all Republicans.

Masterson’s opponent come November could be either another attorney, W. Briggs Hopson III, 41, or Eric Rawlings, 45, who have entered the race as Democrats.

The area’s senior legislator, Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, remains uncontested for a sixth term in the Legislature representing House District 55, covering central and northern Vicksburg.

In races taking place on the geographical fringes of Warren County, two of three incumbents remain unchallenged as of this week.

Rep. Chuck Middleton, D-Port Gibson, is trying for a fourth term in House District 85. The district covers three precincts in extreme southern Warren County, as well as portions of Hinds, Claiborne, Jefferson and Adams counties.

Rep. Phillip Gunn, R-Clinton, is running for a second term in House District 56, which covers precicts in eastern Warren County. The rest covers portions of Hinds, Madison and Yazoo counties.

A third, Sen. Lynn Posey, D-Union Church, is being challenged in Senate District 36 by fellow Democrat Johnnie McDaniels, who lost to Posey in 2003.

The district covers portions of Hinds, Claiborne, Jefferson and Copiah counties.