The mountain that Doug Knack must scale to upset Commissioner of Revenue Sharon McDonald in the November election was apparent at the respective campaign kickoffs both candidates held recently.

Knack, an independent, began his campaign at his Larchmont home, where perhaps 75 people gathered to sip wine and listen to speeches.

Many were neighbors. There were no elected officials. And few were black in a city where nearly half the population is African American.

McDonald, the incumbent Democrat, held hers at the iconic Azalea Inn restaurant in Roosevelt Gardens, where a racially mixed audience of 300 crowded in to eat a buffet breakfast and listen to the crème de la crème of Norfolk's political elite.

Attending were Mayor Paul Fraim, Congressman Bobby Scott, members of the General Assembly and City Council, and every other constitutional officer, including Sheriff Robert McCabe, who emceed the event.

Robert Murray, longtime pastor of First Baptist Church, gave the invocation, in which he prayed for McDonald.

McDonald paraded citizens and business owners to the microphone to praise her for assessing taxes fairly and humanely.

The crowd broached political lines. Vic Yurkovic, an Ocean View civic leader who helped found the Norfolk Tea Party II anti-tax group, sat close to Michael Muhammad, who has been critical of the city's racial policies.

Knack's audience was just as enthusiastic, but lacked the political muscle McDonald will bring to bear in November.