Washington state megathread

[CultureKing]

Jim Kastama is running for Secretary of State. The likely Republican nominee will be Thurston County Auditor Kim Wyman. No idea if another Democrat will get in.

Pierce Democrat vs. Thurston Republican?? Hmm... Sounds very familiar!

https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=53&year=1992&f=0&off=11&elect=0

Dang... I actually like Wyman. Though if she turns out to be like Reed then I wouldn't mind seeing her elected.

[CultureKing]

Is Didier pronounced Did-ee-er or Did-ee-ay?

Did-ee-er

[CultureKing]

Maria Cantwell raised $1.36 million in Q2 and started July with $2.27 million cash on hand.

Meanwhile, this schmuck thinks he might want to run against her: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/19/us-usa-campaign-stanzel-idUSTRE76I6QB20110719

A former GWB spokesman? That would be joyous.

[CultureKing]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015711094_kentshooting24m.html

WTF is with the random mass shootings in Washington lately (as in the last few years)?

[CultureKing]

So in the last few years:
-These last two
-The various cop killings (there was the one in the coffee shop and I think another one where two or three cops were killed in an ambush in Thurston county somewhere)
-The Jewish center attack
-Others?, I feel like there have been at least a few more...

[CultureKing]

Oh and I have a (not-so-serious) theory for the last two:
Apparently there hasn't been a 'real' summer this year. For a people that deal with 7-8 months of gray each year that can be the nail in the coffin. I read a fun article by doppler (or whatever his name is, the KIRO weather guy) that there has been less than an hour of weather over 80 degrees.

[CultureKing]

Wow... Columbia only has a bit more than 4,000 residents today. Fail.

[CultureKing]

If he's running, it's probably due to the Republicans attempt to shore up his district having failed.

Democrat +1 representative!

Looks like Bgwah might finally get his wish.

Does this mean no cross-cascades district!! HOORAY!!!

Though I just remembered that I am being represented by 'moderate' and 'independent' Herrera-Beutwhateverhernameisnow. Dear lord is she boring/a republican sheep. But I wont have to deal with her after redistricting, right? RIGHT?

[CultureKing]

Well, establishment hack Jay Inslee voted for the debt ceiling deal. Hopefully we'll have Dennis Kucinich in that seat come January 2013. (And Cheryl Christ in WA-10)

I really don't get why people like Cheryl Christ that much. I talked to her once in the 2006 primary when she challenged Baird and she came across as a principled but at the same time extremely airy. I am not sure how much is going on in that head of hers.

Now Heck however seems to have the opposite problem, smart as all else but a but on the boring side.

[CultureKing]

He's back:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015823653_kucinich05m.html

I really think he is going to take the plunge and run in WA-01. Though I am also of the opinion that he wouldn't make it out of the top-two primary.

[CultureKing]

Disagree on not making it out. If there are five or six Democrats running he only needs 20% of the vote to make it to November. He can get that on name recognition alone.

Do you think Pelz would allow the democrats to remain divided for very long? I feel like there would be significant pressure to present a unified front against Kucinich.

[CultureKing]

We could realistically lose the State Senate (the 10th and the 25th are in real danger and the only thing keeping us in the majority at that point would be Tim Sheldon).

Not that having Democratic control of the State Senate is really worth anything given what happened last session...

Tim Sheldon.....


I have voted against that man so many times and yet he still refuses to go away!

By the way what are the chances that I no longer am represented by Sheldon after redistricting? I live in the Western Thurston County section of his LD (the 35th).

[CultureKing]

We have illegal immigrants, yes, especially in the Yakima and Tri-Cities area. I wouldn't say that's a "problem" though. They keep the economy running out there.

I meant on par with say California or other places in the Southwest, where there is a lot of pressure on public services because of it. I know the farming industry basically relies on them nowadays, so it doesn't surprise me too much that there are many in Yakima, but I never really hear anything in the news about a Washington state Jan Brewer like figure, so I haven't really associated illegal immigration as a major issue with Washingtonians.

That's because we like to keep our crazy republicans as far away from the governorship as possible.

[CultureKing]

We have illegal immigrants, yes, especially in the Yakima and Tri-Cities area. I wouldn't say that's a "problem" though. They keep the economy running out there.

I meant on par with say California or other places in the Southwest, where there is a lot of pressure on public services because of it. I know the farming industry basically relies on them nowadays, so it doesn't surprise me too much that there are many in Yakima, but I never really hear anything in the news about a Washington state Jan Brewer like figure, so I haven't really associated illegal immigration as a major issue with Washingtonians.

That's because we like to keep our crazy republicans as far away from the governorship as possible.

More like, the Washington state Republican party knows they won't have the slightest chance of ever catching the governorship if they ran a far right candidate.

I'm not talking about Republicans, I'm just observing that since no one seems to mention the issue in the state, that it isn't much of a problem in Washington.

Oh there are republicans that talk about it constantly, they just don't really have the means of doing anything. Meanwhile the rest of the state seems to be rather fine with immigrants, although I would say that its more of an apathetic state-wide view rather than a pro-immigrants/immigration view.

On a side note there definitely are a relatively large number of immigrants in the state, so it's not that there simply "isn't an immigration 'problem'" but rather the difference in public perception compared to other states.

[CultureKing]

So by what margin is the tunnel authorization thing going to fail by today?

And more importantly: does it matter?

[CultureKing]

Tunnel "wins" with 60%.

Hague only got 39% in her primary---definitely might see her go down in November. I hope so, at least. Mitchell is currently leading Creighton for 2nd place.

Thank god. I think Seattle may have finally learned its lesson after the Monorail debacle (just think, I could be jetting around town in a freaking awesome monorail had voters not been nutzo)

[CultureKing]

I have a theory.
Howard Schultz recently has been asserting himself as a businessman 'above the fray' and has urged for a bipartisan deal on the debt debate. Any chance he is positioning himself and getting name recognition to run as Bloomberg's veep with that unity '08 clone party?

[CultureKing]

We should have a convention for Washington posters in real life.  That would be awesome! 

We would probably get in an argument right away about Tim Eyeman or something and then devolve into chaos.

Speaking of Tim Eyeman are there similar figures to him in other states?

[CultureKing]

We should have a convention for Washington posters in real life.  That would be awesome! 

We would probably get in an argument right away about Tim Eyeman or something and then devolve into chaos.

Speaking of Tim Eyeman are there similar figures to him in other states?

Not that I know of...maybe someone in California; there aren't that many states that are as fixated by referenda as we are.

btw, are there any Washington posters who actually like Eyman? Maybe that Volksliberalist guy?

The real question is, are there any states where a lowlife can make a living off of proposing stupid initiatives every year?

I don't know but somehow he manages to get a good number of them passed (eventhough I always say to myself that Washington is too smart to fall for another Eyman ploy). Didn't he get caught once stealing money away from one of his campaigns for personal purposes?

[CultureKing]

Oh and I just found this lovely gem:

http://timeyman.com/

Best part is the "Destroy Goverment Game"

[CultureKing]

State Auditor Brian Sonntag has announced he won't run for re-election.

What!?! Only 20 years? Nobody has served such a short tenure in over a century!

https://uselectionatlas.org/WIKI/index.php/State_Auditor_of_Washington

Why hasn't Washington introduced term limits?

Because Washington is cool like that.

Term limits? Eww... Isn't it obvious that you can only build up truly successful/influential politicians if they have at least 15-18 years of experience in their respective office.

[CultureKing]

Gay marriage leading by 19 makes me seriously question the numbers.

...and yet they give McKenna a healthy lead and Obama's numbers seem to make sense. Perhaps they phrased that question oddly to tilt it?

[CultureKing]

I-1125: NO!
I-1163: Yes (Although on this one I could be persuaded to go either way)
I-1183: No (can we stop with the liquor privatization measures, PLEASE?)
SJR-8205: Yes
SJR 8206: No (honestly we shouldn't further reduce our ability to use funds)

[CultureKing]

wow, I just realized how much I-1125 would screw over light rail..

[CultureKing]

What are arguments against something as basic and freedom-loving as privatization of liquor?

This initiative actually reduces the availability of liquor in the state. It's very restrictive about where it can be sold (only very big stores aka the people funding this initiative).

Ah, gotcha. Thought it was about true liquor freedom

Also the state is so cash-stipped that taking away another source of revenue would be more or less criminal (or at least in my mind it is).  We live in a state that like Colorado and California has been more or less frozen by public initiatives that tie the hands of the legislature.

On another note it seems that the 'Occupy Seattle' protests have gathered some steam..