When Al Runte is asked a question his demeanor is one of calm assurance that he knows the subject and exactly what he wants to say about it.

He appears exactly what he once was, a professor of history and environment at the University of Washington for much of the 1980s. Since then he has been an environmental consultant, historian and author.

Runte has never before been a politician, nor has he been an executive, yet he wants to be both by unseating strongly entrenched Mayor Greg Nickels this fall. He has to start by coming in strong enough to dislodge five virtually unknown candidates, albeit the street word is that Runte is the strongest candidate against the mayor.

He talks like he is already the lone opponent.

"I see myself elected mayor, yes," he said in an interview. "I want to be who I am because that is what Seattle needs.

Runte said he does not need to be a technocrat, or a close manager.

"I think that a leader is a person who makes things happen and then delegates tasks to the appropriate people," he said. "People who have vision should be given the voice. This is what a mayor is suppose to do."

A professorial approach is appropriate, he said, because people listen to a professor and a professor listens to the people.

For example, Runte noted city estimates that there is a backlog of infrastructure work.

"I think Seattle traded their leaders for politicians and developers," he said. "We have a $500 million backlog of street repairs in this city."

He added that people would be willingly pay for projects if they see results.

"Maintenance takes far too long - (the city) doesn't lack money, they lack leadership," said Runte.

The Lake Union trolley is an example, he said.

He said he would tell Paul Allen to connect the South Lake Union Trolley to the waterfront trolley because it needs to be integrated with other transit systems.

"It's nice to have toys under the Christmas tree, but we don't need anymore toys in Seattle, we need something that is cohesive and compatible," he said.

The monorail is where Runte is particularly hard on Nickels.

"For the past four years, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has been nothing but a cheerleader for plans to build the Seattle monorail," Runte said in a campaign news release. "He campaigned for the original monorail initiative proposal and has supported it as it passed the voters on four different occasions. He applauded each monorail ballot victory and declared that as mayor he would see to it that the monorail is built.

"Now the mayor has abandoned the project by attempting to give the monorail a death sentence by Sept. 15. Where is the Nickels proposal for revamping the monorail?"

So, what would have Mayor Al Runte done?

He said he would have been closely monitoring the monorail board and used a "bully pulpit to keep it on track."

Runte said the mayor's lack of leadership means "we now have to sort out the mess the politicians have made of the monorail project."

"Stop having politicians plan these transportation issues" because politicians are not engineers, he said.

Despite the potential for the Alaskan Way Viaduct to be destroyed in an earthquake or be down while being replaced, he says more buses are the answer.

"Our bus system must be more frequent," Runte said. "Half hour intervals are not good enough."

He also attacked Nickels on the viaduct. The tunnel idea is too expensive and should be abandoned for a rebuilt elevated structure, a choice where the money is available from a gasoline tax increase approved by the last Legislature - if voters do not cancel that option by voting to cancel that hike and approving Initiative 912 in November.

Runte said he "does not have a lot of money" to campaign but he is working on getting more contributions.

"I am running my campaign as a professor would, talking to people," he said. "The money is being used to gain visibility. The current mayor is invisible. I am going to meeting that he is not attending."