The new season begins this week: as the last days of summer silently ebb, the early feel of fall begins to fill the air. The days are shorter; sunrise comes later; the darkness falls just after 7. Sports fans turn their attention from Fenway to Foxboro; kids return to early morning wake-ups and long days in the classrooms; and the last tomatoes slowly turn red on the vine.

It is the autumn in Dorchester- maybe not exactly according to the calendar, but certainly so by the body clock. And in these first days of September, each year as every year, our attention turns to politics.

For surely it is the political season, that time when voters engage at last in the elections. This year, that first primary election is a short twelve days away. On September 17, Democrats and Republicans will go to the polls to make their choices known for elective office at the state and federal levels.

All summer, candidates for the statewide offices have fought against the sizzling heat and the sapping voter ennui, vying for a little attention. Truth be told, these are important days for Massachusetts residents: we will select a new Governor and Lt. Governor and a new Treasurer; we'll be asked to choose from among several candidates for State Rep and District Attorney; and for the first times in decades, we'll actually be asked to select a new Suffolk County Register of Deeds.

And in the midst of a swooning economy and the persistent low-level anxiety spawned by those terrorists attacks of a year ago, voters here and throughout the state will have a voice in the government policies that will effect them and their children in the very near future. For these are no longer the boom times: the country went with a Republican in the White House two years ago, and now, mid-term, voters can ask themselves, "Are we better off now compared with the the way we were during the eight years of Bill Clinton?" And while there's no chance that any Democrats will lose their safe Congressional seats here, there may be signs of a shift away from the big business policies which now control the national government.

On the state level, the GOP's Mitt Romney has been soaring all year, the presumptive favorite to become the next Bay State Governor. But there may be a mood changing in this state, in this country, and Romney could well become a casualty of his party's ham-handedness in managing the economy.

But alas, that's simply a partisan comment. The real contests here are: can the challenger, Ed Geary Jr. surprise with a strong turnout in his contest with State Rep. Marty Walsh; or will recent "Dorchester Mayor" Mike Mackan parlay his deep knowledge of the city's many neighborhoods into a groundswell of support in his contest for Register of Deeds with incumbent City Councillor Mickey Roache.

Those are the questions that political people have been asking all summer long. Now, as the calendar has turned, these questions can capture the attention of all voters. With just 12 days to go, the races are on.

The standouts, the lawn signs, the coffee hours are building to a climax. Gerard Adomunes and the civic activists will host another election eve rally in a fortnight, on Monday, Sept. 16, and we will all have a chance to see and hear the candidates, all of them.

This political season is on, it's in full force, and now more than ever, it is time for the neighborhood to step up and become engaged in the process.

-Ed Forry