Cantwell votes Yea on political expediency

As I was watching the news tonight, I was not surprised to hear that our two United States senators split on whether to confirm John Roberts as the next SCOTUS Chief Justice. However, I was quite surprised to see the roles of level-headed, fair-minded liberal and unmoving, shrill-partisan liberal reversed on this vote. Generally, on the somewhat rare circumstance when Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray split, you can count on Cantwell to be the one who busts the party line for the sake of common sense. However, today was one of those even rarer circumstances when it was Murray who did what's right over many in her party's objections. Democrats were split roughly 50/50 on voting for and against Roberts, with the Nay votes mostly coming from the left wing of the caucus. That's Murray's territory, not the supposed DLC-loving mainstream Cantwell, but today Murray voted to confirm Roberts and Cantwell voted to reject. It isn't difficult to tell which one of them is up for reelection next year, is it? Sadly, I also saw that my favourite Senate Democrat also was voting for political expediency on this as well. I know Evan Bayh needs to drift left to win the 2008 Democratic nomination, but it's still disappointing. Considering the type of judge President Bush has the potential of appointing, i'm happy to say John Roberts provides a huge sigh of relief. Let's just hope he'll go a similar route for Sandra Day O'Connor's replacement.

Edmonds concedes, rejoice

Following numbers updated last night showing Bob Ferguson's lead growing, Carolyn Edmonds conceded her primary fight to keep her job. Ferguson's margin now stands at 1,266 votes, a lead of 52.34 to 47.45%.

A change for the better

Today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer speculates that the King County Council will be much more bipartisan and friendly if Bob Ferguson's lead holds. With two of the presumed five Democrats being independent-minded (Julia Patterson being the other, to a lesser extent), it would break the Democratic machine's stranglehold on power without having to work productively with minority Republicans. This would mean a refreshing change in King County government, regardless of the outcome of the county executive race. We can only hope Ferguson can hold his lead, with several thousand ballots left to count, according to projections.

Same old thing

Another day of absentee counts has flipped the lead once again in the Democratic primary for the first district of the King County Council. Current results stand at:

Bob Ferguson - 11,488 [50.61%]
Carolyn Edmonds - 11,169 [49.20%]
Write-ins - 43 [0.19%]

Still too close to call

Even on the weekend after the primary election, the race against Bob Ferguson and Carolyn Edmonds still goes on. Ferguson grew his lead yesterday, but Edmonds took the lead back late and currently is winning by 79 votes. Not that i'd want such a thing again, but just to point out, the current margin is within the 0.5% spread requiring a recount. Ferguson's lead prior to Edmonds taking it back was 0.7%, so just to put it in perspective, anything can still happen.

In other annoyingly close election news, Steve Corker is leading Judith Gilmore by 46 votes in the race for the second general election spot for Spokane's City Council. Regardless of who advances, the general will send a Democrat against Republican first place finisher Nancy McLaughlin. A Gilmore victory will make things difficult on who to support, since Corker's big plus is his experience, and that despite her fiscal conservatism, every other word out of McLaughlin's mouth is "family." Politicians like that can take their families and shove it.

Too close to call

Today's Seattle Times contains an article about the current situation involved in the Edmonds-Ferguson absentee counts. Edmonds has closed the gap with early absentees but Ferguson still holds the lead. It is speculated that much of Edmonds' home turf has yet to count much of their absentees, which is bad news if true. Luckily, this is King County Elections we're talking about.

The day after

Spokane:
According to updated figures by the Spokane County Auditor's department, Steve Corker is now in the lead in the race for the second spot in the Spokane City Council general election. As the last of precinct data came in last night, Corker trailed fellow Democrat Judith Gilmore by a mere dozen votes, but now leads by 21 votes after some absentees have been added to the total. Conservative Republican Nancy McLaughlin is already in the general election, having won 29% of the primary vote.

Legislature:
Democratic state Rep. Ross Hunter recently declined to challenge Republican Rep. Dave Reichert for his Congressional seat, but may still challenge too-conservative-for-his-district state Sen. Luke Esser next year. Hunter was gracious enough to promptly reply to an email I sent asking about his intentions, and will decide whether to run for reelection to his House district or challenge Esser's Senate seat following the legislature's short session later this year.

Onward to the general:
Yesterday's primary was a mixed bag for us of fair-mindedness. On one hand, Bob Ferguson more than likely will hold on to his scant margin over Carolyn Edmonds and Reagan Dunn won easily in comparison in the other King County Council primary. Ron Sims underperformed in his primary, giving those of us who want his worthless leadership out some good news to chew on for a few days. Unfortunately, Robert Rosencrantz was unable to hold onto his lead and was overtaken by Dwight Pelz in the 8th Seattle City Council position race. Rosencrantz ran a creative and spirited campaign, but ultimately his refreshing independent-mindedness and libertarian-leaning fiscal platform proved too good for Seattle voters. Darlene Madenwald was never really in the race in the 2nd position primary, with Richard Conlin and Paige Miller easily advancing. In that race, Conlin is easily the preferable choice, thanks to his ability to question city leadership on issues rather than always going for the highest-priced option like Miller. In the 8th position race, neither McIver or Pelz are adequate choices for anybody not on the left side. As an added bonus, John Creighton made a superb showing for Port Commissioner, trouncing liberal incumbent Lawrence Molloy, while pragmatic incumbent Pat Davis easily topped Jack Jolley in the other race.

Early returns

With King County not reporting figures on their website yet, a potentially-close race is brewing in the packed race for Spokane City Council. Nancy McLaughlin is out to an early lead at 29% with 19% of ballots counted, with both Steve Corker and Judith Gilmore virtually tied at 25% of the vote. Corker leads Gilmore in raw votes 2,092 to 2,058. In the 2nd district race, Mary Verner is winning big with 60% of the vote.

-----Update #1-----
Reagan Dunn is cleaning up with 11% of ballots counted, taking 61% of the vote to Steve Hammond's 39%. On the Democratic side, with 8% counted Carolyn Edmonds leads Bob Ferguson 54-46. You can find results for King County at http://www.metrokc.gov/elections/2005sep/results.htm
I'm assuming these are pre-counted absentees, judging from King's claim of zero precincts having been counted.

-----Update #2-----
According to NWCN, Ron Sims is "winning" his primary right now with a meager 66% of the vote. If this holds, David Irons is looking even more viable than before. Also according to NWCN, McIver and Rosencrantz are currently leading the 8th position Seattle race, so keep your fingers crossed for Robert.

Blogger.com is screwing up big time and I haven't been able to publish anything for 45 minutes now, but there's a very exciting finish going in the Ferguson/Edmonds race. Ferguson leads by only ten votes with 82% in, where the amount of write in votes is more than the current margin. In Port Commission races, John Creighton is surprising all with a solid first place against incumbent Lawrence Molloy, and incumbent Pat Davis is also winning easily. A tough three-way race for the open seat is brewing between Rich Berkowitz and Lloyd Hara, both with slightly over 25%, and Chris Cain on the outside looking in at 20%. There's also a close race for the top spot in the race for Kent mayor, with both Judy Woods and Suzette Cooke at slightly over 31%.

-----Update #3-----
Ferguson has extended his lead with 97% of precincts in to 51-49, and Steve Hammond has narrowed the gap against Reagan Dunn to 56-44 in races for King County Council. In Seattle races, Richard Conlin will face Paige Miller for position 2, Jan Drago will face Casey Corr for position 4, and while it's too close to call for good, it appears Richard McIver will face Dwight Pelz for position 8. With 98% of precincts in (and absentees left to count, of course), McIver leads with 37.6% to Pelz's 33% and Rosencrantz's 29.2%. In the open seat for Spokane City Council, conservative Nancy McLaughlin predictably made the general election, but does not yet have a challenger. Former Councilman Steve Corker currently trails fellow Democrat Judith Gilmore by twelve votes, 2426 to 2414. Joyce McNamee came in a distant fourth.

Primary predictions -- "other"

Today i'm going to cover the remainder of the races for predictions of tomorrow's primary election. This includes Spokane City Council races, along with Seattle Port Commission races and a few assorted ones i've thrown in for the hell of it.

Spokane City Council Dist. 2
One in this three-person race will be eliminated tomorrow, and I tend to think it will be Jeff Bierman. Bierman has some solid ideas and is a good candidate, but i've seen next to nothing out of him as far as ads, campaign signs, and any similar name recognition boosters. Conservative challenger Dallas Hawkins is likely to advance as well as appointed incumbent Mary Verner, by all appearances a pragmatic liberal. Being that the second district encompasses the liberal downtown region, Hawkins will likely have a difficult time in the general election.

Finish order: Verner, Hawkins, Bierman

Spokane City Council Dist. 3
In easily the most difficult to call race out of all, Spokane voters will attempt to whittle a group of seven down to two. As i've stated earlier, I expect former Councilman Steve Corker to make the final pairing, despite his polarizing personality. The other spot I expect to go to conservative challenger Nancy McLaughlin, who has the full backing of the county Republicans. Joyce McNamee and Judith Gilmore could sneak in if their cards fall right. Daniel Day, Keith Springer, and Barbara Lampert have little hope, despite quality ideas from the latter two. A general election will be difficult to call between Corker and McLaughlin. Corker is a better ideological fit for the district, but McLaughlin is more than likely a better personality fit.

Finish order: Corker, McLaughlin, McNamee, Gilmore, Springer, Lampert, Day

Seattle Port Commission Pos. 1
While I admit I haven't been closely following any of the Port races, from all apperances this is incumbent Lawrence Molloy's to lose. Challenger John Creighton appears to be his top challenger here, with a broad set of big-name endorsements. Challenger Wen Wu Lee has been invisible in comparison to her opponents.

Major supporters:
Creighton: Former Govs. Gary Locke [D] and Dan Evans [R]; former Republican Sen. Slade Gorton; former Port Commissioners Clare Nordquist and Jack Block; former Seattle Mayors Wes Uhlman, Charles Royer, Norm Rice, and Paul Schell
Molloy: Washington Conservation Voters; Seattle Post-Intelligencer; County Executive Ron Sims; Democratic Rep. Jay Inslee; state House Speaker Frank Chopp

Finish order: Molloy, Creighton, Lee

Seattle Port Commission Pos. 3
Five candidates are vying for the seat currently held by city council candidate Paige Miller. Foremost of the group are former Seattle City Treasurer Lloyd Hara and Bellevue-based labour leader cop Peter Coates. Battling these two closest is Rich Berkowitz, followed by little-chance candidates John Kane and Chris Cain.

Major supporters:
Berkowitz: King County Journal; 11th, 32nd, 34th, 36th, 46th District Democrats; Seattle City Councilman Jim Compton; Democratic state Sens. Ken Jacobsen and Margarita Prentice
Coates: Washington Teamsters; Washington Conservation Voters; Port Commissioner Lawrence Molloy; Ron Sims; Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels
Hara: Former Govs. Albert Rosellini, Mike Lowry, Gary Locke [D], and John Spellman [R]; King County Democratic Central Committee; 43rd and 46th District Republicans; Seattle City Councilmembers Richard Conlin and David Della
Kane: 36th District Democrats

Finish order: Hara, Coates, Berkowitz, Kane, Cain

Seattle Port Commission Pos. 4
Pragmatic incumbent Pat Davis has a target on her back by liberals in the form of challenger Jack Jolley. Other challengers are two-time Republican candidate for attorney general Richard Pope and 2004 Libertarian legislative candidate Robert Walker.

Major supporters:
Davis: Democratic Govs. Christine Gregoire and Gary Locke, and Republican Gov. Dan Evans; Democratic Sen. Patty Murray and former Republican Sen. Slade Gorton; Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna; Seattle Times
Jolley: Seattle Post-Intelligencer; Sierra Club; Democratic state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson; The Stranger

Kent Mayor
A potentially-entertaining race is brewing for mayor of Kent, a historically-conservative Seattle suburb that has recently begun to drift towards the left. Former Republican state Rep. and current City Councilman Les Thomas was among the first to enter the race, and has since been joined by Renton Chamber of Commerce CEO Suzette Cooke and fellow Councilmembers Judy Woods and Bruce White (no relation to current Mayor Jim White). This race could go to any of the four, all with solid credentials and support. Cooke got the most recent boost after being endorsed by the Seattle Times, and Woods leads in money. While it's foolish of me to attempt to call this race, i'm taking a stab since it's not like i'm betting money or anything.

Major supporters:
Cooke: Seattle Times; Republican County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert
Woods: Washington Conservation Voters; King County Labor Council; Kent City Council President Julie Peterson; Democratic state Sen. Karen Keiser; Republican state Rep. Fred Jarrett

Finish order: Woods, White, Cooke, Thomas

Tacoma City Council Dist. 2
Jake Fey appears to be the favourite to come in first, but the race for second place is pretty wide-open. No candidate is really raking in donations and Fey only seems to be in the lead because of his support of many local and county Democrats. Fellow Democrat Denny Faker is my pick for second place, but it could also go to Carolyn Davidson or Rick Cvitanich.

Finish order: Fey, Faker, Davidson, Cvitanich

Primary predictions -- counties

Today i'll cover races in King and Snohomish counties, mostly council races, but some others as well.

King County Executive
Incumbent Democrat Ron Sims faces a challenge from Karen Rispoli and Michael Nelson. Neither pose a serious threat to his nomination. Republican David Irons faces no primary opposition and Green Gentry Lange does not run in the primary due to the Green Party's lack of major party status. Sims is supported by nearly every major Democrat in King County. Bob Ferguson did not endorse him, but has not endorsed anybody else.

Finish order: Sims, Nelson, Rispoli.

King County Council Dist. 1
While the aforementioned Bob Ferguson suffered a surprising setback this morning with the normally-normal Seattle Times endorsing Carolyn Edmonds, he still has the momentum and support to win. An Edmonds victory would be a surprising upset, despite that the district encompasses more of her old district than Ferguson's, but considering that Ferguson near unanimously won the endorsement of the Democratic district Edmonds formerly represented, this ought not be a big issue. The winner will face token opposition from Republican Steven Pyeatt, who has no primary opponent.

Major supporters:
Edmonds: Washington Conservation Voters; Sen. Patty Murray; County Executive Ron Sims; Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels
Ferguson: King County and Washington State Democrats; Democratic County Councilwoman Julia Patterson; Rep. Adam Smith; former Democratic legislator and state Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge

Finish order: Ferguson, Edmonds

King County Council Dist. 9
I am of the opinion that Steve Hammond's win at the county convention was a fluke, and that Reagan Dunn will probably win this rather handily. Dunn has the name recognition, cash, and geography on his side here, and I doubt Hammond will be able to pull it off.

Major supporters:
Dunn: Former Republican Sen. Slade Gorton; former Republican Rep. Jennifer Dunn; current and former Secs. of State Sam Reed and Ralph Munro; Seattle Times
Hammond: Republican state Sen. Steve Johnson; King County Republicans; KVI talk show host Kirby Wilbur

Finish order: Dunn, Hammond

King County Sheriff
Appointed incumbent Sue Rahr's only major opponent seems to be Jim Fuda, and Fuda will probably beat Greg Schmidt rather handily for the second spot in the general election.

Major supporters:
Fuda: King County Police Officers Guild; Bellevue City Councilman John Chelminiak
Rahr: Alki Foundation; Republican Rep. Dave Reichert; King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng; and, yes, both Chris Gregoire and Dino Rossi
Schmidt: 11th District Republicans; 32nd, 34th, 36th, 47th District Democrats

Snohomish County Council Dist. 1
Incumbent Republican John Koster is unopposed, and will face either Marian Harrison or Suzanne Smith on the Democratic ticket. Smith has the edge in experience from her years on the Marysville City Council, and has a slight edge in cash over Harrison (neither have particularly spectacular fundraising figures). That said, Harrison did earn the endorsement of the Snohomish County Democrats.

Finish order: Smith, Harrison

Snohomish County Council Dist. 5
The clear advantage here goes to former Councilman Dave Somers, who current incumbent Jeff Sax beat in 2001. Steve Hobbs is a more mainstream choice for Democrats but has little chance of beating Somers, who has most of the Democratic establishment behind him and an advantage in cash. A Sax-Somers rematch should be entertaining.

Major supporters:
Hobbs: Democratic County Executive Aaron Reardon; Snohomish Mayor Liz Loomis
Somers: Snohomish County Democrats; Washington Conservation Voters; Democratic Reps. Jay Inslee and Rick Larsen

Finish order: Somers, Hobbs

Primary predictions -- City of Seattle

The first installment of personal predictions for this Tuesday's primary election covers the bulk of races discussed on this weblog thus far, featuring the elections for three Seattle City Council races and for the mayor of Seattle. King County and Snohomish County races will be covered Sunday, and the remainder will be covered Monday.

Seattle Mayor
Considering the lack of credible opposition for incumbent Greg Nickels, he is assured to make the general election. The real question here is who he will face, and that could be a difficult question to answer. I like Al Runte here, but Christal Wood could sneak in as well. Jeanne Dixon and Richard Lee are far too eccentric to win, and Luke Williams appears to also have very little chance. I passed by his campaign web log today and found it quite empty and what was written was full of spelling and punctual errors. Chris Hoeppner is openly campaigning as a Socialist Worker, and that isn't a recipe for success anywhere, even Seattle.

Major supporters:
Nickels: Alki Foundation; King County Democrats; County Executive Ron Sims.
Wood: Progressive Party of Washington; Jerome Johnson, former Green Party of Washington secretary; Andy Stephenson, brief Democratic candidate for secretary of state.

Finish order: Nickels, Runte, Wood, Dixon, Williams, Hoppner, Lee.

Seattle City Council Pos. 2
Conventional wisdom would dictate that Darlene Madenwald would wind up the odd woman out in this race. She's a pretty good candidate, but in having to oppose an incumbent and another with tons of election experience and name recognition, Madenwald will have a tough time breaking through to the general election. Once a marked man, incumbent Richard Conlin appears likely to keep his position, and the aforementioned Paige Miller should be able to depend on her long career on the Port Commission to get her to the general.

Major supporters:
Conlin: King County Democrats; Ron Sims; Seattle Post-Intelligencer; former Mayor Charles Royer
Madenwald: Former Gov. Booth Gardner; Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland; former state SPI Judith Billings; state Rep. Ruth Kagi
Miller: Former Gov. Gary Locke; former Mayors Wes Uhlman and Paul Schell; Seattle Times

Finish order: Conlin, Miller, Madenwald

Seattle City Council Pos. 4
A matchup between incumbent Jan Drago and Casey Corr seems evident here, with footnote candidacies of Linda Averill and Angel Bolaños only opposing them. I expect an entertaining general election here.

Major supporters:
Averill: The Stranger
Bolaños: 46th District Democrats; Joseph Szwaja, former Green Party Congressional candidate; Paul Richmond, 2004 Green Party attorney general candidate; former Democratic state Rep. Dawn Mason
Corr: Former Republican Gov. Dan Evans; Mayor Greg Nickels; Charles Royer; Seattle Times
Drago: King County Democrats; Alki Foundation; Washington Conservation Voters; Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Finish order: Drago, Corr, Bolaños, Averill

Seattle City Council Pos. 8
In what I expect to be the closest race this Tuesday, two of three heavyweight candidates will go on to the general election. Incumbent Richard McIver faces Democratic county Councilman Dwight Pelz and businessman Robert Rosencrantz. Rosencrantz narrowly lost a spot in the general election in his first run for city council when he got beat out by current councilmember Jean Godden in the primary where she defeated then-incumbent Judy Nicastro. This race could go any way, with three well-known and well-financed candidates. Ultimately, my cynicism about elections in Seattle tells me that somebody as likable and mainstream as Rosencrantz is likely to wind up on the losing end, but I hope i'm wrong.

Major supporters:
McIver: Former Democratic Govs. Albert Rosellini and Mike Lowry; Mayors Wes Uhlman, Charles Royer, and Norm Rice
Pelz: Washington Conservation Voters; state Democratic Party Chair Paul Berendt, with former chairs Charles Rolland and Karen Marchioro; state House Speaker Frank Chopp
Rosencrantz: Dan Evans; former Democratic legislator, attorney general and gubernatorial candidate, and state Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge; Alki Foundation; 34th District Democrats

Finish order: McIver, Pelz, Rosencrantz

Stranger endorsements, indeed

In this weeks' brand new issue of urban Seattle lefty (and hilarious) newspaper The Stranger is their endorsements for the 20th's primary election. As usual, I mostly disagree with The Stranger, but as always, their material is gold. From saying Greg Nickels' opponents are "crazier than a box full of Baptists" to telling people to vote for Sue Rahr "even though she's not a dyke," this endorsement sheet is well worth a read.

Ammons on the ball with 2006 legislative outlook

David Ammons proved he knows his stuff in his legislative outlook column published by the Associated Press and run Sunday in the Kitsap Sun. He is correct that the Republicans have very little hope to take back the Senate, despite a smaller deficit than in the House.

The Republicans dropped the ball last year in Senate races. They had multiple seats they could have won and strengthened their lead, but instead dropped two to Democrats, most sorrowfully the 49th district seat held by Don Carlson. In Carlson's absence, ideology in the Senate GOP caucus is conservative across the board. Given that, the GOP isn't doing bad for themselves, but they have to protect many of those conservatives in 2006 and only have even a remote shot of knocking off two or three Democratic incumbents. Despite that it's likely the GOP will win seats in the House, even possibly taking it back, their chances in the Senate are slim and could lose seats just because the wrong half of seats are up for election this time.

Let's face it, this state is in the midst of some serious Democrat fatigue. Gregoire is still unpopular and it is increasingly more because of her horrible fiscal and economic policies than because people wanted Dino Rossi. Her party has ruled her first session as if a one-party state and pooh-poohed any questions brought up by minority Republicans, and the one bill she failed on was one of the few worthwhile efforts her party put forward, but couldn't keep her own caucus in line to extend state anti-discrimination laws to gays and lesbians. Democrats are paying for their hubris in the court of public opinion, but will it extend to the midterm elections? Probably not at the same pitch it's currently at, but Republican gains are likely when you have a handful of Democrats winning by meager margins like Tami Green and Pat Lantz. Paul Berendt is in for a surprise if he thinks voters are stupid enough to vote for his party because Bush sucks. 2006 will be a referendum on Gregoire, and she'd better start caring about more of the state than downtown Seattle if she wants to keep her legislative majorities intact. The only unfortunate thing about split government is it will force her to stop being such a stubborn liberal and allow her to take credit for some decent compromises. That's ok, she'll still get creamed by Dino.

West recall on, Edmonds goes negative yet again

Yesterday the Spokesman Review reported that supporters of the recall of Spokane Mayor Jim West expect the recall to be held on November 29 of this year. They've received about 16,000 signatures so far with 12,567 required. The countdown is now on for the swearing in of Mayor Dennis Hession.

In other news, the Seattle Times covered the increasingly negative Democratic primary between web log-favourite Bob Ferguson and the incessantly negative partisan liberal Carolyn Edmonds. Edmonds apparently isn't backing down from her idiotic claim that Ferguson opposes mass transit, with her attack site BottleneckBob.com. I've read several people noting the correct claim that Ferguson is the only member of the Council to use mass transit regularly, but I suppose anything goes when you're badly losing the fight for your job. The Times also quotes Ferguson pointing out how Edmonds' mind conveniently changed when she lost what was then the county Democratic nominating convention, which she was expected to win: "She touted [the convention] in her campaign literature until she lost — badly...there's a word for that: hypocrite. I think voters will see through that." Once again, Bob tells it like it is.

Haggerty enters race for US Senate

Politics1.com is reporting that Green Party member Bern Haggerty has entered the 2006 race for US Senate against Maria Cantwell. Haggerty ran for lieutenant governor in 2004 and came in fourth of four candidates, drawing 2.76% of the statewide vote. In the absence of the voter-approved Top Two primary, Haggerty could play a Ruth Bennett-like role in a potential general election matchup if the presumed Cantwell-McGavick race is going to be as entertaining as many expect.

Ferguson rolling on to victory

You can tell Carolyn Edmonds is screwed when the Seattle PI fails to endorse her. Bob Ferguson won the sole endorsement of the PI today, coupled with the endorsement of Seattle Weekly, another newspaper that one would expect to go with the more liberal and partisan choice in Edmonds. Beyond snatching up two surprise endorsements, Ferguson also has achieved the support of grassroots Democrats, winning the support of several Democratic legislative organizations, King County Democrats, and the Washington State Democrats. Edmonds has turned to desperation in some late attack ads that have gone over like a lead balloon and only flown back in her face in the form of negative press. All signs appear to be pointing to a Ferguson victory in September 20th's Democratic primary, which is good for both King County and the state as whole.

Seattle city council forum(s)

Today's Seattle Times carried an article overviewing yesterdays' City Club candidate forum, and to a lesser extent, The Stranger's Wednesday forum including more candidates. Read about that one more in-depth here. One thing became apparent after reading this article: the choices Seattle residents will have to make on this are important. You have a few mainstream choices amongst many liberals, leftists, and elitists. Whatever happened to the attractive side of liberalism protecting personal freedom? Why is it that these liberal elitists feel like they have the right to ban lap dances in strip clubs? It's ludicrous that in a city as liberal as Seattle they'd do something as reactionary as this. Thumbs up to Robert Rosencrantz and true freedom-loving left-wingers Linda Averill and Angel Bolaños for having the balls to oppose this. Also, only Rosencrantz and Casey Corr possess brains? If the rest of them are partisan and hateful enough to say that President Bush doesn't care about African Americans, I pity the voters of Seattle. Bush might not care a whole lot about those who disagree with him, but to confine that to race is idiotic.

Thanks be to Twista for releasing "Slow Jamz" before Kanye West could do it himself.

More PI nonsense

Following their predictable endorsements for city council, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer "endorsed" Sue Rahr for county sheriff today, after insulting all three candidates repeatedly, including the one they just endorsed. How incredibly pretentious. If Rahr and others are "lousy choices" and she's the one who "comes closest" to showing decent leadership, don't make an endorsement. This hearkens back to the 2004 race for attorney general when they had to choose between a failed liberal politician in Deborah Senn and a mainstream centrist in Rob McKenna and acted as if it was such a tough decision between the two worst possible candidates the state could have possibly found. Listen up: if you don't like somebody, don't endorse them. Don't waste your readers' collective time by bellyaching for six paragraphs about the lack of a quality liberal in a race. All it's doing is pissing off readers who actually like whoever you're insulting.

Don't stop the presses -- Seattle PI unsurprisingly wants no change

Today the overly liberal Seattle Post-Intelligencer released their editorial board's endorsements for Seattle's city council primaries. Unsurprisingly, they chose incumbents across the board (one can assume the even more liberal Nick Licata will also be endorsed over his token opposition), despite each race they had an option of a more mainstream, less machine candidate. This goes to show how predictable the PI is in always supporting the liberal status quo, even when faced with credible, more varied opposition. Trust in the Seattle Times (I hope).

New Rosencrantz ad riles opponents

Last Friday, the Seattle Times reported on the reactions of Seattle City Council candidates Dwight Pelz and Richard McIver towards Robert Rosencrantz's creative campaign ad homaging Bob Dylan's famous video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues." Both are bellyaching that the ad unfairly attacks them, most likely because they're both too bland, too patrician, and certainly too politician to come up with something as witty and inventive as Rosencrantz. Plus, after the Times researched the claims covered in the ad spot, they proved that they were true! No wonder Pelz and McIver are calling it "dirty campaigning," since truth runs contrary to career machine politicians like them. This is another example of Rosencrantz's creativity noted on this page, and i'd urge everybody to go to his website and click the "See the New TV Spot!" link to watch it.

Fundraising update

Being that the PDC finally updated their site, I can now compare and contrast fundraising and expenditure numbers for some upcoming primaries in a couple weeks. Aside from the following primary matchups, Ron Sims still has a huge cash on hand advantage over David Irons in the race for King County Executive, but if there's some silver lining for the Irons campaign, he topped Sims in fundraising once again. However, when your opponent still has seven times as much on hand as you do, you're still in a poor position.

King County Council, Dist. 1: Carolyn Edmonds (see 8/30) edged Bob Ferguson by approximately $2,000 in fundraising over the past two months, and both have about $58,000 on hand after taking into account a campaign debt of Ferguson's. The steady downhill slide Edmonds has taken is not being helped by these recent fundraising problems. With her level of party support she should be able to run well ahead of Ferguson, and in that situation she might not necessarily be DOA on September 20.

King County Council, Dist. 9: On an unsurprising note, appointed Councilman Reagan Dunn is walking all over appointed-and-specially-elected Councilman Steve Hammond in fundraising. The conservative Hammond raised less than $10,000 since July 1 and has just shy of $3,000 on hand. In contrast, the socially-moderate and semi-libertarian Dunn took in almost $60,000 during the same time period and has over $45,000 currently on hand. Hammond will have the unfortunate task of beating money, ideology, and name recognition and it isn't looking good for him.

Seattle City Council, Pos. 2: Incumbent Richard Conlin leads all opponents with about $40,000 raised in the most recent time period, topping $22,000 for Paige Miller and $11,000 for Darlene Madenwald. Miller leads in cash on hand with about $92,000, but has campaign debt, as does Conlin.

Seattle City Council, Pos. 4: A neck-and-neck race in recent fundraising and cash on hand for the fourth position between incumbent Jan Drago and challenger Casey Corr. Corr edged Drago by less than $10,000 in funds raised since July 1, and leads Drago $125,000 to $110,000 in cash on hand, though both have growing campaign debts on top of that.

Seattle City Council, Pos. 8: There are a lot of mixed signals in the num bers for the eighth position. Businessman Robert Rosencrantz ran neck-and-neck with incumbent Richard McIver in taking in $44,000, easily ahead of King County Councilman Dwight Pelz's $18,000. However, Pelz has the most on hand with $102,000 to McIver's $99,000 and Rosencrantz's $19,000. Apparently, Rosencrantz is dumping much of his campaign wallet into making the general (good idea, given his underdog status) and Pelz is assuming he's already beaten Rosencrantz and is saving money to take down McIver in November.