Seattle newspaper endorsements

After seeing that today's Seattle P-I endorsed Democrat Eric Oemig in the 45th district, I thought now a good time to run down who the P-I and Times are supporting thus far. The Times has a schedule posted for future endorsements, as it has yet to voice its preferences for legislative races and others.

The P-I endorses:
32nd Senate: Darlene Fairley [D]
33rd Senate: Karen Keiser [D]
43rd Senate: Ed Murray [D]
45th Senate: Eric Oemig [D]
46th Senate: Ken Jacobsen [D]
2nd House: Tom Campbell [R]
25th House: Dawn Morrell [D]
26th House: Pat Lantz [D]
32nd House: Ruth Kagi [D]
33rd House: Shay Schual-Berke [D]
34th House: Joe McDermott [D]
37th House: Eric Pettigrew [D]
38th House: John McCoy [D]
41st House: Fred Jarrett [R], Judy Clibborn [D]
43rd House: Frank Chopp [D]
45th House: Larry Springer [D]
48th House: Ross Hunter [D]

The Times endorses:
2nd Congress: Rick Larsen [D]
5th Congress: Cathy McMorris [R]
8th Congress: Dave Reichert [R]
I-920: Yes
I-933: No
I-937: No

Most interesting in my mind is the Times changing course on Dave Reichert in the 8th district. They endorsed Dave Ross in the 2004 open seat, but were quite critical of current Democratic challenger Darcy Burner's campaign style and approach in their endorsement editorial. Some of their criticisms are fair, others are taken right from the GOP playbook ("Perhaps more troubling is her spotty voting record."). Still, as one of the few Reichert supporters amongst the blogger crowd I tend to associate with, I am on the whole pleased with their endorsement. The reason I support Reichert in this race is based on two main points, both of which are covered in the Times editorial:

1. Burner's campaign is being run against President Bush far more than against Dave Reichert. As a politico who cares far more about local races than national races, this alone makes it difficult for me to support Burner. I believe in Tip O'Neill's old saying that "all politics is local," and it's also why I think Reichert will win reelection in spite of the national turn to the Democratic Party.

2. In spite of all Burner's statistics, Dave Reichert is the moderate in this race. He is not a true moderate like a Rodney Tom or a Sam Reed, people whose ideology is so even-handed that they do not cleanly fit in either party, but is indeed a moderate in the Republican Party and has shown more independence in his single term than Jennifer Dunn did in her six. I see little in Darcy Burner's candidacy that distinguishes her from her liberal Democratic base, and while I do not agree with Congressman Reichert on every issue, I do admire his occasional independence and believe he deserves a second term.

This said, do not fret, my Democratic compadrés. I cannot vote in the race anyway, and will be happily voting to reelect the lovably-moderate Adam Smith in November.