"Seattle Politicos" fb group had an after the Primary. I was unable to attend for family reasons. What is interesting is that I think most FB affinity groups do not get a write up in the local media. Maybe they do and I just never noticed. Anyway, here is what I missed:
Doors at 6, keg from Fremont Brewing Co. tapped at 6:30. Candidates who’ll be on hand include City Attorney contender Pete Holmes, Position 4 candidate Sally Bagshaw, and Position 8 candidate Robert Rosencrantz.
http://publicola.net
So, they drank some beers.
And. . .
Mayoral hopeful Mike McGinn chatted up potential supporters, along with fellow tunnel-hater Mike O'Brien. O'Brien's competition for Richard McIver's city council seat, Robert Rosencrantz, got behind the keg and started pulling pints, which never hurts your electoral chances.
The gathering was hosted by "Seattle Politicos." A testament to the organizational power of Facebook, the Politicos is basically a collection of online "friends". Members include reporters, candidates, consultants, campaign volunteers and enthusiastic participants in democracy. Vulcan lobbyist Dan McGrady created the group, which now assembles semi-regularly for drinks, elbow-rubbing, and occasionally awkward encounters between competitors.
O'Brien and Rosencrantz weren't the only people there who will be facing off in November. City Attorney hopeful Pete Holmes and incumbent Tom Carr both showed up. Holmes only stuck around for a few minutes before heading off to a meeting of the 46th District Democrats to hunt for votes.
But the big talk last night wasn't opponents awkwardly mingling around each other, it was who the former mayoral supporters will back now. McGinn suspects it will come down to their position on the tunnel--Mallahan supports it, McGinn will try to stop it. Because of his support for public transit and former role with the Sierra Club, McGinn thinks he'll pull off the environmentalists.
The bigger question is the unions. Labor unions have actively supported the tunnel project, but also launched their own ad campaign against Joe Mallahan in the days before Tuesday's primary.
SeattleWeekly
The upside to not going was that I could read about it. The down side is that I missed out on the beer.
Maybe next time.
On another Friend note: Nick Licata held his own (55%) against two challengers; Jessie Israel (29%) and Marty Kaplan (14%) (source: King County Elections). A hefty lead for Licata to take coming out of the primary. Jessie Israel has her work cut out for her if she expects to unseat Licata.
I think it is unlikely that she wins, but, what does Licata run on? Nickels is gone. The Mercer project is dead if Joe Mallahan becomes mayor (see SeattlePI.com story here).
He reiterated his opposition to the Mercer Street Project, saying it wasn't well financed. He said the $70 million in levy funds committed to the project should go where they were originally intended, to fixing roads and sidewalks..
Licata worked pretty hard to popularize his opposition to some projects, and then complained that he was unfairly being painted by his opponents as an obstructionist. Well, now, he may not have a foil to make and unmake his reputation on with both Greg Nickels and Jan Drago not running campaigns (neither will be mayor).
My guess is that the identity crisis will hit in about a month when he is trying to redefine himself in the absense of Greg Nickels.
For Nick Licata, the Nickels era is a mixed metaphor now: it is water under the burnt bridge.
Have a great day,
Mike Baker
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