ROME TOWNSHIP — There’s nothing quite like a political race to spice up competition and bolster the bottom line of an auction.

That was exactly the case Monday evening with the sweet tooth auction at the Lawrence County Fair.

With Democrats seated on one side of the livestock arena and Republicans on the other, auctioneer Bob Sells exhorted bidders to open up their pocket books to help 4-H club members.

“It’s all good,” Sells said. “Nothing bad here. Not going to buy anything bad.”

The pocket books that saw the most action were those of Sally Mayo, whose husband, Robert, is running for Lawrence County Commission on the GOP ticket, and Doug Malone, the incumbent Democrat.

Mayo wound up with a batch of brownies, a collection of peanut butter cookies and a surprise box that included a $50 bill and a tray of cookies. Malone and fellow Democrat, Lawrence County Treasurer Stephen Dale Burcham, bought an apple pie and stashed a strawberry-rhubarb pie. While other goodies unleashed a polite back and forth bidding, the surprise box, left for the grand finale, got the most attention.

“I had a good time,” Malone said. “We’ll probably give it away. Then again we may take it to the (Democratic) party’s booth and eat it.”

Mayo said she, too, would take her goodies to the Republican party both and offer it to friends and family.

One by one, the young people made their way around the ring, goodies in hand, to tempt the taste buds and wallets with their brownies, pies and cookies.

In the end, the auction garnered $1,740, the most ever for a fair auction and $220 more than last year’s event. The largest bid was $200 for the dreamsicle cake made by Kelsey Hardy and bought by Maytag Walters and Big Ben’s Pork Express.