The chairman of the Richmond Democratic Committee says he mistakenly allowed a vote to endorse Del. Dwight Clinton Jones for mayor that violated the committee’s bylaws. Eric Payne told a five-member Democratic party appeals panel last night that he was not aware when the vote was taken on Sept. 25 that committee rules do not allow new business to be introduced at party meetings.

Many weren’t old enough to vote, but 600 area high school students got a real-life lesson in civics yesterday. Five candidates for Richmond mayor answered students’ questions during a forum at St. Catherine’s School. “Today is a unique opportunity to challenge the future mayor with issues that concern you,“ Laura Erickson, head of school at St. Catherine’s, told students selected from 17 area high schools.

Three of the city’s mayoral candidates are joining forces to appeal what they are calling the backroom, closed-door endorsement of a fourth candidate by the Richmond City Democratic Committee. A joint committee representing the 3rd and 7th Congressional District Committees will hear specifics of the appeal tonight in a conference call.

Richmond mayoral candidates Dwight Clinton Jones and William J. Pantele released dueling polling numbers yesterday suggesting the five-person race is largely a contest between the two of them, with about one-third of voters undecided. A memo released by a supporter of Jones indicated that a recent survey done by his campaign shows Jones leading Pantele 34 percent to 17 percent among a citywide sample of likely voters.

Richmond’s mayoral race has turned snarky. With the election six weeks away, Robert J. Grey Jr. lashed out at two rivals yesterday, saying Del. Dwight Clinton Jones and City Council President William J. Pantele have done little to move the city forward. Grey issued a news release that asked, “What are they waiting for?“ It jumped on comments made by Jones and Pantele at a forum Tuesday when asked how they would address particular issues if elected mayor.

Richmond’s mayoral candidates looked last night to the future of downtown, and several of them balked at the idea that it could include a new ballpark in Shockoe Bottom rather than along North Boulevard. Paul Goldman, William J. Pantele and Lawrence E. Williams Sr. emphasized different points but all said they favor keeping baseball on the Boulevard near The Diamond if Richmond can lure a franchise to replace the Class AAA Braves.

Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder only hints at his preference for mayor, but his former supporters are speaking volumes with their checkbooks. Corporate leaders and others who bankrolled Wilder’s campaign to lead City Hall in 2004 are overwhelmingly behind Robert J. Grey Jr. in this year’s race, according to an analysis by the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan tracker of political giving in the state.