How close they will get is almost unknowable, or at least too obscured by conjecture. As early as September, months before any rivers had been nominated, one Washington newsletter labeled the St. Johns a likely pick for the final 10. Jacksonville officials have lobbyists in Washington making the case, and listen regularly for news about the nomination, which has opened an ideological debate in some political circles. It's not even clear exactly what it is communities are competing for. Clinton promises Heritage Rivers special consideration in the hunt for federal environmental and development aid, but nearly no money just for making the list.
Critics claim it's all a scam, a camel's nose under the tent of local control of waterways.
Get with the program, they say, and hometown choices about waterfront development, zoning, even fishing and boating, could suddenly be made by a bureaucrat in Washington. Its members, once they pass background checks, are scheduled to finish their work by late March or April. When that happens, the choices may rest heavily on work that federal staffers have done already, analyzing rivers by a list of criteria. How well those criteria fit may be the best gauge available of how the St. Johns stacks up. There's really no place like the St. Johns on the nomination list, and that should give the river a boost.