Lee enters Pierce executive mash

The News Tribune reported yesterday that current Pierce County Council President Terry Lee will enter next year's open seat race for county executive. He joins former Council President Shawn Bunney as declared Republicans in addition to Democratic Councilman Calvin Goings. Also in new news, Tacoma Councilman Mike Lonergan says if he runs he's going to do so as an Independent, potentially taking this race to a whole new level. Democrats Pat McCarthy and Jim Kastama have yet to rule out candidacies, as well.

Update: The race to replace Ladenburg

A little over a month ago I posted about the entry of Pierce County Councilman Calvin Goings into the race for county executive in 2008, as incumbent Democrat John Ladenburg is term-limited and will probably be coaxed into a statewide run by Dwight Pelz instead. The race is likely to be the premiere local race of the year, and it just inched closer to realizing its potential as Councilman Shawn Bunney has also entered the race (though without as much as a peep from the MSM), who served as chairman of the Council up until earlier this month when fellow Republican Terry Lee took over for him. Another potentially-competitive Republican, Tacoma City Councilman Mike Lonergan, has yet to rule out seeking the office, while one of the stronger potential Democratic candidates, state Auditor Brian Sonntag, has stated he won't run and will instead seek a fifth term to his current office.

Sonntag passes on Pierce

State Auditor Brian Sonntag has declared he will not run for the open Pierce County executive position in 2008, and is planning on running for a fifth term to his statewide position. This decision dually means a competitive race for Auditor is now out of the question and the Pierce race is probably now more wide-open as Sonntag likely would have been the presumptive favourite.

The race to replace Ladenburg

I'm a bit late in posting about it, but about a week ago Pierce County Councilman Calvin Goings [D-Puyallup] became the first big name to throw his hat in the ring for 2008's county executive race, where incumbent Democrat John Ladenburg is term-limited. Goings is also term-limited on the Council, and had previously served in the Senate.

Other notables whose names have been tossed around include:
-Shawn Bunney [R]: County councilman since 2003.
-Jim Kastama [D]: Senator since 2001, previously served as state representative.
-Mike Lonergan [R]: At-large member of the Tacoma City Council.
-Pat McCarthy [D]: County auditor since 2003.
-Brian Sonntag [D]: State auditor since 1993.

This has the potential to hold a hotly-contested general election. Pierce, the state's largest swing county, has elected a Republican Council under Ladenburg the last few years and was the opposite under the previous executive, current GOP Land Commissioner Doug Sutherland. This position is gold for any politician with statewide aspirations (a bit backwards in Sonntag's case), and Goings has the youth and looks to use this as a launchpad. I have also been quite interested to see the next step Ladenburg himself takes. I think he'd be the Democrats' dream candidate for attorney general in 2008, and while I don't think they would do it, I think he'd also have a much easier time against Dino Rossi if the party would dump Gregoire simply by taking a big chunk of Dino's 2004 support off the table due to his local popularity. The press has treated him as something of a Democratic heir-aparent, so it would surely help him to keep his name around until he can take the gubernatorial plunge.