Washington 2020: The Calm Before the Drizzle

[redcommander]

Rumor has it that KING5 (through SUSA) is fielding a poll today about state support of legalizing marijuana, and that it will be broadcast on tonight's news.

The results are posted if anyone's wondering:

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=bbf73a14-44bd-47e1-ab45-89d98b3998e6

Legalization favored by a 20% margin, including 52% of Eastern WA respondents.  That last part is quite surprising.

What's so surprising about it? West Coast Republicans are more Libertarian on the issue than the nationwide party is. I don't know why Republicans generally make such a big fuss about it.

[redcommander]

This is big.

The Seattle Times endorsed Rossi twice during his bids for governor, but they endorsed his opponent this time.


See:
 http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2013112273_edit10murray.html?prmid=op_ed

They also endorsed Susan Hutchison. As far as their endorsements go, they don't seem to have a good track record of getting people elected.

[redcommander]

Washington didn't reject the Republican wave. They just had a crappy person at the top of the ticket who couldn't even win after two cycles of name exposure. If McKenna had ran, the results would have been much different in the state.

[redcommander]

What is the composition so far of the next state legislature? Are Republicans in control of either of the bodies or are they still Democratic majorities?

[redcommander]

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/11/21/1730355/sen-cantwell-unlikely-to-face.html

lol. I hope Didier runs again... The results in Western Washington would be beautiful.

I hope Democrats have to face Reichert or McMorris Rodgers. They could at least make a close race.

[redcommander]

I hoped McKenna would have ran against Murray this cycle. She would have gone down against him. Plus Republicans could have gotten Reichert to run for governor in 2012, so it is not as if they wouldn't have had a competitive race without McKenna.

[redcommander]

I hoped McKenna would have ran against Murray this cycle. She would have gone down against him. Plus Republicans could have gotten Reichert to run for governor in 2012, so it is not as if they wouldn't have had a competitive race without McKenna.

lol, sorry, Reichert would be a total joke as a gubernatorial candidate.  Even without his health issues, running for Congress is much less ... intellectually demanding than a governor's race.  In a contest that high profile, his shortcomings would be exposed very quickly.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politicsnorthwest/2013195971_reichertsaysnotfamiliarwithglasssteagallact.html

Also, lol at D.S.'s notion we are "crying" at the thought of McKenna taking on Cantwell.  If he wants to try, bring it.  Y'all couldn't take down Patty even in a GOP wave year, so let's see you try and beat Maria in a Presidential election cycle.  It's not like there's a big record of success the WA GOP can point to.

It is still my prediction that McKenna will run for governor and the race will be closely contested.

Well maybe he isn't the best example, but the Republican bench in Washington is much stronger than say a place like California.

[redcommander]

Sam Reed should take on Cantwell in 2012 with McKenna for governor. That would be the strongest ticket Washington Republicans have put up in quite a long time.

[redcommander]

A lot of Republicans are still bitter than he didn't rig the 2004 election for Rossi, too.

What would they prefer though? Blowing a chance at gaining the Governor's mansion or a senate seat? Or putting up an ideologue? I actually think realisticidiot has a point that maybe Reed should run for governor, and McKenna for senate.

[redcommander]

I meant to say this earlier, but....




WIIIIIIIIIINNNNN!!!!!   

You don't know that the new district will be safely Democratic though. It could be a swing district, or could take in parts of WA-3 and WA-4.

[redcommander]

I actually think it's a better idea for every state to hold gubernatorial elections in an off-presidential year. It allows for a more equal opportunity to Republicans to win in Democratic areas, and Democrats to win in Republican areas. I think it would be highly unlikely that Henry would have been elected in Oklahoma for example, or Christie in New Jersey, if there elections were held concurrently with Presidential elections.

[redcommander]

If McKenna doesn't win can we assume that the Washington GOP is pretty much done as a competitive force for gubernatorial elections? I mean it's been 31 years since the state last elected a Republican governor. You would think that McKenna would have the clear "change" advantage going for him, and if he somehow blows it, it would be a very disappointing loss.

[redcommander]

Is there a self funder Republicans could run against Cantwell? Maybe John Stanton would be interested?

[redcommander]

Apparently there are serious rumors that Reichert might challenge Cantwell. I'm not sure how competitive he could be, but at least he isn't Rossi and his new district will probably be a comfortable hold for the GOP.

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2011/07/will_dave_reichert_challenge_maria_cantwell_senate.php

[redcommander]

Is Inslee going to bleed liberal support to McKenna because of his vote?

[redcommander]

Is Inslee going to bleed liberal support to McKenna because of his vote?

His vote to raise the debt ceiling.

[redcommander]

Washington has an illegal immigrant problem?

[redcommander]

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.

[redcommander]

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.

[redcommander]

I had this chart in the back of my mind when I answered #23:

It shows how long counties have voted the same as each other:



I'm gonna work on an updated version to include 2008 now.

It's hard to believe King County was at one time a Republican stronghold.

[redcommander]

I forgot to check Whatcom County's primary elections. Did the Democrats fail to make the general for county exeuctive? Epic fail for a lean D county. Like, pathetic, really.

Woah. How did Democrats allow that to happen? Yep the county will now have the choice between a Tea Party conservative, and a slightly more moderate one.

[redcommander]

http://heraldnet.com/article/20110828/NEWS01/708289889/0/NEWS

Apparently Reagan Dunn thinks that letting Cantwell have a freeride for reelection will somehow benefit him? Anyways it looks like Reichert might be more serious about running for senate than the talk was about him running against Murray. Baumgartner is also being talked about as an acceptable alternative.

[redcommander]

Whatever happened to the Bush deputy press secretary?

Stanzel probably realized he would lose badly in the state. It looks like Baumgartner is forming an exploratory committee. He doesn't really have anything to lose since he was elected to State Senate last year, and a good campaign against Cantwell could set him up nicely for another statewide bid in the future. That is of course assuming that next year will not be a 1980 style blowout, and Cantwell becomes seriously at risk of losing.

http://www.nwdailymarker.com/2011/09/baumgartner-said-to-be-organizing-exploratory-committee-to-run-against-cantwell-in-2012/

Why are some Republicans worried about a competitive senate race? The DNC is going to be spending a lot of money in Washington already because of the Governor's race. If they're using the argument that Murray's race helped Dems down the ballot, it's because they found Dino Rossi to run. They seriously expected a landslide across the state with him leading the ticket?

[redcommander]

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?

[redcommander]

It's not a GOP or Dem issue. It's about insuring people don't abuse their political offices.