Washington 2020: The Calm Before the Drizzle

[Seattle]

Looks like Reichert already has a challenger in the form of state rep, Roger Goodman. He apparently live in Kirkland? I'm not sure how that works because that's in the first and if anything, he'll probably be in the first next election even if lives in Bellevue.....

Anyway he is running on a platform of legalizing medical pot dispenseries.

[Meeker]

Former State Representative Laura Ruderman, last seen losing to Sam Reed in 2004, is running in the 1st CD. She could end up the Democratic nominee - Ruderman is a fundraising machine and if she's the only woman in a field filled with dudes...

[bgwah]

Yeah I could see Ruderman winning. She was one of the first Democrats to win on the Eastside back in the 1990s, IIRC...

[Seattle]

It'd be nice to have a democrat female congressional democrat.... I wonder who will try to go up against Herrera?

[bgwah]

It'd be nice to have a democrat female congressional democrat.... I wonder who will try to go up against Herrera?

Hopefully one of the Vancouver legislators (who was the woman who dropped out in 2010)? Herrera would still probably win, but it might be competitive at least.

[Meeker]

It'd be nice to have a democrat female congressional democrat.... I wonder who will try to go up against Herrera?

Hopefully one of the Vancouver legislators (who was the woman who dropped out in 2010)? Herrera would still probably win, but it might be competitive at least.

Deb Wallace. Craig Pridemore won't try it again because it'd mean losing his State Senate seat.

Herrera Beutler is going to be safe for life after she gets her new district so it doesn't really matter though.

[Jackson]

Herrerra doesn't matter as long as we pick up the new 10 district and knock off Reichert.

[Seattle]

bahaha..... Gregoire, "hasn't made a decision about whether to run for re-election next year".

 http://www.komonews.com/news/local/123275458.html

She can't honestly think she'll win...... even if her approval ratings have now "moved up" in to the 30's.

[Alcon]

bahaha..... Gregoire, "hasn't made a decision about whether to run for re-election next year".

 http://www.komonews.com/news/local/123275458.html

She can't honestly think she'll win...... even if her approval ratings have now "moved up" in to the 30's.

Shadow of the future.

She needs clout, and she doesn't want to give the impression that she's a lame duck if she doesn't have to.

Besides, right now she's very invested in spooking Mike McGinn, and his approvals ain't much better.

[Meeker]

She has to announce fairly soon though. Jay Inslee's campaign needs to get going and she's enough of a team player to realize that.

[Meeker]

Rob McKenna will announce his campaign tomorrow evening.

[Meeker]

It's filing week. There is nothing exciting to report from anywhere.

[bgwah]

It's filing week. There is nothing exciting to report from anywhere.

No Democrats are gonna even try for the Senate seat in the 4th? If I still lived there, I would totally be a sacrificial lamb.

Where can you find candidates who have filed for local office (King County in particular)?

[Meeker]

It's filing week. There is nothing exciting to report from anywhere.

No Democrats are gonna even try for the Senate seat in the 4th? If I still lived there, I would totally be a sacrificial lamb.

Where can you find candidates who have filed for local office (King County in particular)?

http://www.kingcounty.gov/elections/elections/201108/candidatefiling.aspx

Every county auditor has a similar page.

[Meeker]

[bgwah]

Ugh, Derringer isn't running again in Bellevue... The thought of Kemper Freeman owning another seat on the council (not to mention the Governor's Mansion) is unsettling.

[Meeker]

This has been known for a while but I don't think it was ever posted - Snohomish County Executive/Democratic rising star Aaron Reardon is being challenged by State Representative/Republican rising star Mike Hope. The stakes are higher for Reardon of course since Hope will still have his State House seat if he loses (and possibly a campaign for the open 1st CD...)

[bgwah]

Kemper Freeman sucks, Part II*


*Part II of today, obviously. Overall this would be Part xMCMLXII

[Meeker]

The R vs. R election in Spokane is kind of amusing. The appointed incumbent is being challenged by the guy who used to represent the 4th in the 80's and early 90's. He became a judge after leaving the legislature but there was some kind of corruption scandal in 2007. He was also the faithless elector in 1976 that voted for Reagan instead of Ford.

[bgwah]

I haven't been paying too much attention to Bellingham/Whatcom politics lately. Apparently Pete Kremen changed his mind and is not running for a fifth term as county executive (and is instead running for a seat on the county council).

With Kremen out, Doug Ericksen has jumped into the race for executive, even though he only became a State Senator this year. Other candidates include a former Mayor of Lynden (whom I naturally presume to be another Republican) and a public utilities director, who is a Democrat. The coal terminal project will probably be one of the "big" issues, though with a so-so Democratic candidate and an odd-year election (poor student turnout), Ericksen would seem favored. But I'm hardly an expert on Whatcom County politics.

[Tender Branson]

Gov. Gregoire won't run for re-election.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/0611/Gregoire_wont_seek_third_term.html

[Meeker]

Cue Jay Inslee in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

[Frodo]

Rob McKenna is making pleasant noises regarding K-12 and higher education funding:

McKenna's call to boost school funds short on details

By Jim Brunner
Seattle Times political reporter

State Attorney General Rob McKenna rolled out his 2012 campaign for governor last week with an attention-grabbing call to reverse decades of dwindling state support for public schools and universities.

Taking the stage at Bellevue's Sammamish High School, where he graduated in 1980, the Republican said the state should return to spending about three-quarters of its budget on education, as it did when he was young.

"We need to go back to a state commitment to funding education, a commitment where public education receives the kind of share of the budget it got when we were in school," McKenna declared.

But could he really deliver on that?

McKenna laid out ambitious specifics. He said K-12 schools should receive about 51 percent of the budget, instead of the current 40 percent. Colleges should have a 16 percent slice, McKenna said, double what they receive now.

[bgwah]

Rob McKenna is making pleasant noises regarding K-12 and higher education funding:

plz tell me ur joking

[Meeker]

All his plan does is take money from other parts of the budget and redirects it to education. It's a bit like cutting off your foot so you can lose weight. You solve one problem but create another one that's much worse.

What we really need is a tax increase to fund greater education spending but of course that's not on the table because OUR STATE TAX CODE AND BUDGET SYSTEM SUCKS SO BADLY.