Washington 2020: The Calm Before the Drizzle

[Meeker]

Wow, that's funny, I was just thinking McKenna would probably be one of the few Republican AGs that wouldn't jump on that bandwagon, since he wants to be Governor.

The Washington GOP is full of teabagging types. He needs their support and they would've bugged him about this until he eventually gave in anyways. I think it was actually a smart move on his part.

[RI]

Sad. I liked McKenna.

[bgwah]

Ugh.

First pot, now this. It's reassuring to know once again that I made the right choice not voting for this piece of garbage.

*evil look at Alcon*




I'm kind of happy about this overall, though. He just cut his chances of ever becoming Governor in half (if not more!).

You just went from winning King County in 2008 to not even being able to crack 40%, Robby.

[Ogre Mage]

So how do you think this impacts his chances at becoming the next governor of Washington state?

It impacts his chances negatively and suggests McKenna is more concerned about the GOP primary than I thought.  Is Rossi seriously considering running again?

The Democratic base, which previously had been ambivalent about the AG, is going to come out blasting.  He has just stepped on one of the party's core issues.  bgwah is correct -- McKenna now has no chance in King County.

[CultureKing]

So how do you think this impacts his chances at becoming the next governor of Washington state?

It impacts his chances negatively and suggests McKenna is more concerned about the GOP primary than I thought.  Is Rossi seriously considering running again?

The Democratic base, which previously had been ambivalent about the AG, is going to come out blasting.  He has just stepped on one of the party's core issues.  bgwah is correct -- McKenna now has no chance in King County.

...or thurston, or whatcom, or San Juan. Basically this is the sort of thing that will really rile up the left and make the center question him. Though really it does help him alot in terms of the primary (though remember people we have the jungle primary so everyone votes, making the tea party much less powerful.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Ugh.

First pot, now this. It's reassuring to know once again that I made the right choice not voting for this piece of garbage.

*evil look at Alcon*




I'm kind of happy about this overall, though. He just cut his chances of ever becoming Governor in half (if not more!).

You just went from winning King County in 2008 to not even being able to crack 40%, Robby.

What'd he do about pot?

[Meeker]

I still think a lot of you aren't looking at this in the right way. While I agree this doesn't help McKenna with Democrats or Independents, I don't think he really had a choice. He was going to develop a major issue with his base if he didn't get on board and he didn't want to have to deal with that heading into a statewide race. You can see a similar situation with Corbett in Pennsylvania and McCollum in Florida. It was a lose-lose and chose the better option.

I also don't think he ever had a chance at winning King County in the first place (gubernatorial and down-ballot statewide races are entirely different beasts) but that's a separate issue.

[bgwah]

I still think a lot of you aren't looking at this in the right way. While I agree this doesn't help McKenna with Democrats or Independents, I don't think he really had a choice. He was going to develop a major issue with his base if he didn't get on board and he didn't want to have to deal with that heading into a statewide race. You can see a similar situation with Corbett in Pennsylvania and McCollum in Florida. It was a lose-lose and chose the better option.

I also don't think he ever had a chance at winning King County in the first place (gubernatorial and down-ballot statewide races are entirely different beasts) but that's a separate issue.

Hence my "he won't be able to crack 40%" comment!

[Meeker]

I still think a lot of you aren't looking at this in the right way. While I agree this doesn't help McKenna with Democrats or Independents, I don't think he really had a choice. He was going to develop a major issue with his base if he didn't get on board and he didn't want to have to deal with that heading into a statewide race. You can see a similar situation with Corbett in Pennsylvania and McCollum in Florida. It was a lose-lose and chose the better option.

I also don't think he ever had a chance at winning King County in the first place (gubernatorial and down-ballot statewide races are entirely different beasts) but that's a separate issue.

Hence my "he won't be able to crack 40%" comment!

Ah, I missed the "in 2008" bit. My bad.

[Ogre Mage]

Video of Gov. Gregoire discussing AG McKenna's lawsuit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Ng5lYw3kE

I also don't think he ever had a chance at winning King County in the first place (gubernatorial and down-ballot statewide races are entirely different beasts) but that's a separate issue.

I don't think he had a chance of winning in King County either, but I could have seen him doing decently for a Republican -- around 45%.  That certainly won't happen now.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

Dem field in WA-03 is down to three:

http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/mar/25/independent-rodriguez-salazar-withdraws-from-3rd-d/

So I take it with the top-two primary system, there's a lot of pressure to keep the number of legitimate party candidates down to two now (so there's the guarantee that at least one of them will move on to the general)?

[CultureKing]

Dem field in WA-03 is down to three:

http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/mar/25/independent-rodriguez-salazar-withdraws-from-3rd-d/

So I take it with the top-two primary system, there's a lot of pressure to keep the number of legitimate party candidates down to two now (so there's the guarantee that at least one of them will move on to the general)?

It definitely helps, at the moment there are two real dems in the primary plus a peace activist, while for the republicans they have two(ish) candidates left plus a tea party guy and some military dude. Truthfully the republican primary could be very fragmented...   

[Meeker]

Dem field in WA-03 is down to three:

http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/mar/25/independent-rodriguez-salazar-withdraws-from-3rd-d/

So I take it with the top-two primary system, there's a lot of pressure to keep the number of legitimate party candidates down to two now (so there's the guarantee that at least one of them will move on to the general)?

Personally I think it has more to do with the establishment trying to clear the field for Heck than the nature of the top-two primary, but you may be right. And if so it's another reason why the top-two sucks - the party establishment just quietly pushes candidates out of the race and de facto selects the nominee behind the scenes out of fear of messing up the general election. How democratic.

[Holmes]

Dem field in WA-03 is down to three:

http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/mar/25/independent-rodriguez-salazar-withdraws-from-3rd-d/

So I take it with the top-two primary system, there's a lot of pressure to keep the number of legitimate party candidates down to two now (so there's the guarantee that at least one of them will move on to the general)?

Some of those anti-latino comments are pretty funny. Especially the one that says she's withdrawing because of her anti-white views and trying to make a grand latino army.

[CultureKing]

Dem field in WA-03 is down to three:

http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/mar/25/independent-rodriguez-salazar-withdraws-from-3rd-d/

So I take it with the top-two primary system, there's a lot of pressure to keep the number of legitimate party candidates down to two now (so there's the guarantee that at least one of them will move on to the general)?

Personally I think it has more to do with the establishment trying to clear the field for Heck than the nature of the top-two primary, but you may be right. And if so it's another reason why the top-two sucks - the party establishment just quietly pushes candidates out of the race and de facto selects the nominee behind the scenes out of fear of messing up the general election. How democratic.

Yeah, though to be fair none of the candidates who have dropped out so far really had any chance of winning the primary, now should the democrats somehow get Pridemore to drop out then it definitely would smack of establishment interference.

[Frodo]

Does anyone know if Democrats will be able to maintain control of the Washington and Oregon legislatures, or if they will be overwhelmed by Republicans this year? 

[CultureKing]

Does anyone know if Democrats will be able to maintain control of the Washington and Oregon legislatures, or if they will be overwhelmed by Republicans this year? 

The democrats would have to lose a huge number of seats in both states to lose their majorities which basically are near super-majorities (at least I think so). I feel like while the national scene may be heavily tilted towards a republican wave there may not be as much of a move on the local level in the Pacific Northwest.

[Meeker]

Rep. Brendan Williams (D-Olympia), one of the most liberal members of the State House, is exploring a bid for the State Supreme Court.

(Not an April Fools joke)

[Alcon]

Guys...what happened to us?

[bgwah]

Guys...what happened to us?

Nothing interesting has been happening.

[Meeker]

Well the Legislature finally adjourned. And Tim Eyman's upset about what they did. And Rossi's still flirting with a Senate race.

So yeah.

[Хahar 🤔]

lol rossi

[RI]

Well the Legislature finally adjourned. And Tim Eyman's upset about what they did. And Rossi's still flirting with a Senate race.

So yeah.

In other words, same old, same old.

[Frodo]

Why isn't Tim Eyman running for office in his own right instead of continually hiding behind his initiatives?  This would be the perfect year for him to do that. 

[CultureKing]

Why isn't Tim Eyman running for office in his own right instead of continually hiding behind his initiatives?  This would be the perfect year for him to do that. 

Because even in a year like this he would lose handily. There were a few scandals involving his fund raising for initiatives that could easily be exploited. Plus he wants to destroy government, not run it.