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Nov-05-2009Mallahan gains on McGinn in latest ballot count(topic overview)
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The race is too close to call, and Mallahan could still eke out a victory. He's still trailing environmentalist Mike McGinn by less than a thousand votes. That news comes even though many pre-election polls -- including a TechFlash poll ]] TechFlash poll -- showed the T-Mobile executive holding slight leads. Of course, since this election was held entirely by mail, many voters in Seattle had already cast their ballots by the time T-Mobile's problems surfaced on Tuesday. In tight races like this one, every vote counts. There's probably a very, very small percentage of Seattle voters who procrastinated with their ballots, and may have been impacted by the outage which started at about 2:30 p.m. on election day. Mallahan once held the title of vice president of customer delight at T-Mobile, so having customers of his company on the day of the election saying things like "I am really beginning to hate T-Mobile" probably didn't help matters. Taking this theory one step further, one could imagine that Mallahan (and many of his key staffers) utilized T-Mobile as their preferred wireless carrier. It is unclear whether Mallahan or anyone else in his campaign lost service. We did hear from a Seattle reporter friend and T-Mobile customer who was covering the election last night, and couldn't access his service. That made his job especially hard, so you can imagine what it would have been like if dozens of Mallahan campaign workers couldn't communicate with one another. [1] SEATTLE, WA (KPLU) - Mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan remains optimistic despite Mike McGinn's lead in the race for Seattle's mayor. In a crowded room in the Edgewater Hotel, Mallahan walked to the podium and smiled broadly, looking very much a winner even though he was trailing his opponent by about 1000 votes. He told his supporters he believes the phone calls volunteers made to undecided voters in the final days of the campaign will pay off once all the ballots are counted.[2] SEATTLE (KPLU) - In the race for Seattle mayor, environmental activist and attorney Mike McGinn has taken a slim lead over T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan in early returns. At a crowded pub in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, McGinn supporters raised the roof when a big screen showed their candidate ahead with 50 percent of the vote to Joe Mallahan's 49 percent.[3] Sierra Club activist Mike McGinn has an early lead over T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan in the race for Seattle's mayor. With 38 percent of the expected vote counted in Tuesday's election, McGinn led Mallahan with roughly 50.5 percent to his 49.4 percent.[4] SEATTLE -- Sierra Club activist Mike McGinn is still leading in the race against T-Mobile Executive Joe Mallahan for Seattle mayor, but not by much. Results released Wednesday afternoon showed both candidates with just over 49 percent of the vote, with McGinn leading by just 462 votes.[5] Sierra Club activist Mike McGinn led T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan by 910 votes Tuesday in the race for Seattle's next mayor, and County Council Chairman Dow Constantine defeated former TV news anchor Susan Hutchison in the race for King County Executive.[6]
The first results have environmental activist Mike McGinn leading T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan by less than a thousand votes. The final polls of the campaign had Joe Mallahan leading in the Mayor's race, so when Mallahan saw the first results posted last night, this was his reaction.[7] The Seattle mayor's race probably won't be decided for days. Lawyer and environmental activist Mike McGinn leads by just 910 votes at this point over business executive Joe Mallahan and The Seattle Times reports that there could be another 125,000 votes still to count.[8] A day before the election, Mike McGinn has closed Joe Mallahan's lead in the Seattle mayor's race and the two men are now in a statistical dead heat, a new poll shows.[9] A new KING-TV poll by the robo-polling firm Survey USA finds Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan all knotted up in the Seattle mayor's race.[10]
Mike McGinn maintained his lead against Joe Mallahan in the Seattle mayor's race after Wednesday's vote count.[11] Environmentalist attorney Mike McGinn' lead over T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan in the race to be Seattle's next mayor is shrinking.[12] Seattle's mayoral race was too close to call Tuesday night, with environmentalist attorney Mike McGinn holding a narrow lead over T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan.[13] SEATTLE -- In the latest count of mail-in ballots, the gap between environmentalist attorney Mike McGinn is closing between T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan in the race for Seattle's next mayor.[14] In Seattle, Joe Mallahan, a T-Mobile executive, and Sierra Club activist Mike McGinn outpolled Mayor Greg Nickels in the August primary and advanced to the general election.[15] August'''s primary elections introduced two fresh faces into the mayoral race and the Seattle political scene: Mike McGinn, a local attorney and environmental activist, and Joe Mallahan, vice president of Operations Strategy at T-Mobile.[16]
Outspent underdog mayoral candidate Mike McGinn is in the spotlight with a slight lead as he joins hands with a supporter as the first vote total is released putting him ahead. Joe Mallahan speaks at his election night party at the Edgewater Hotel in Seattle.[17] Election Night counting showed that Seattle mayoral candidate Mike McGinn led his opponent, Joe Mallahan, by a mere 910 votes.[18]
Seattle mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan, who battles it out with Mike McGinn for the top prize on Tuesday's election day, took a tour of three West Seattle locations Sunday, Nov. 1.[19]
When the final weekend of a campaign rolls around, a major candidate is often seen in just a few ways - a TV ad, a mailer blitz, shouting amplified exhortations to supporters at one or two last big rallies. Emblematic of the way Seattle mayoral candidate Mike McGinn has run his campaign, with just a few days to go, he was in the basement of the West Seattle (Admiral) Branch Library on Saturday morning, speaking softly and casually with about a dozen people. We published a quick update on this as it happened, but now, for those who missed it and are still making up their minds, here are the details of what he said, and what he was asked. Though he's probably done it hundreds of times by now, he opened by recapping his background and bio. (If you still haven't heard it, you can read it on his website.) He'd spent years involved in his neighborhood, McGinn said, so getting into the race "was a big step up." He quoted a West Seattle supporter, Pigeon Point-based neighborhood activist Pete Spalding - who was in attendance - as saying that if you're going to complain about what's going on in your neighborhood, you'd better be ready to do something about it. One subject about which he is clearly passionate, though the mayor's scope of influence is limited, is the public school system. "Even though we don't run the school district - maybe we ought to," he said.[20]
In Tuesday night's results, McGinn had led by 910 votes of 85,081 votes counted in the mayor's race. While Mallahan joked about a recount at his Election Night party, McGinn supporters, gathered for their candidate's celebration at a Capitol Hill bar, passed out cellphones and began calling undecided voters. The McGinn campaign posted volunteers in five QFC parking lots around town to collect last-minute ballots and drive them to a post office open for late-night drop-offs. Campaign volunteer Aaron Pickus said they delivered 200 ballots to the post office just before midnight Tuesday. Those ballots would not have been among those counted today. McGinn was not available for comment this afternoon. He didn't answer his cellphone, and Pickus said he was taking a break from the campaign to spend time with his family. Mallahan, speaking at a campaign office at 14th and Yesler, punched the new numbers into his Blackberry. "We're hopeful," he said.[21] Mallahan rarely spoke directly to the press and his campaign accumulated more than $100,000 in debts - a strikingly high number for a local race. McGinn, meanwhile, ran a campaign that was largely staffed by volunteers and raised much less money than his opponent. One of McGinn's slogans - "Mike bikes" - reflected that McGinn often rode his bicycle to events and interviews. He held many community forums and served as his own spokesman, often calling reporters directly. He released a series of position papers, including one calling for a vote to expand light rail in the city. His rumpled demeanor was far from the slick stereotype of successful mayoral candidates. McGinn was serious and strident during debates with Mallahan, rarely smiling and confronting his opponent directly over his connections to companies and individuals who backed the tunnel replacement program. While McGinn seemed better prepared and more focused than Mallahan during these showdowns, his aggressiveness seemed to turn off some voters.[22] McGinn raised just $200,000, but ran a very lean, volunteer-dependent campaign. A turning point in the race came two weeks ago, when McGinn seemed to backtrack on the biggest issue in the race: his opposition to a deep-bore tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. He had campaigned almost solely on his vow to block the tunnel during the primary, and he continued to oppose it in his general-election campaign. Oct. 19, after the Seattle City Council voted on an agreement with the state to move forward on the tunnel, McGinn said he wouldn't hold up progress on the project. He promised to continue asking "hard questions" and to fight a provision in the state law that attempts to hold Seattle responsible for cost overruns on the $4.2 billion project. Mallahan seized on what he called McGinn's "flip-flop" and argued the job of the next mayor was to work to bring in the tunnel project on time and within budget. He said his own management experience better prepared him for that task.[13] McGinn, an attorney and former local Sierra Club leader, countered that the "Seattle way" of doing things provided a needed check on things that didn't have voters' support. He built his candidacy around his opposition to tunnel, saying city voters rejected a viaduct tunnel replacement option in 2007 and that Seattle's $930 million in viaduct-related costs was too much to pay. McGinn said his idea - tearing down the viaduct and dispersing traffic on downtown streets - could be paid for by the $2.4 billion the state has set aside to pay for the viaduct replacement. McGinn surprised many when he changed his viaduct stance in late October, saying he still opposed the project but wouldn't stop it from going forward. He made his statement after the City Council voted unanimously to sign an agreement with the state OK'ing the tunnel. McGinn continued to focus his campaign on the viaduct tunnel, though, specifically objecting to a provision in the state law authorizing the project that city voters pay for all cost overruns. Mallahan said that proved McGinn was insincere when he said he wouldn't oppose the tunnel.[22]
McGinn, 49, is an attorney and former leader of the local Sierra Club branch. He quit his job three years ago to start a public-interest nonprofit called Great City. Mallahan, 47, a T-mobile vice president, was virtually unknown in political circles when he entered the race six months ago. He contributed $230,000 to his campaign. After he and McGinn defeated incumbent Mayor Greg Nickels in the primary, unions, business leaders and firefighters put their support behind Mallahan, pouring thousands into his campaign.[21] Mallahan and McGinn are two political newcomers. Both outpolled Mayor Greg Nickels in the August primary and advanced to Tuesday's election. Nickels had been dogged by criticism of his handling of a snow storm last year. McGinn made opposition to the tunnel a centerpiece of his primary campaign, but softened his position a few weeks ago. His campaign highlighted experience he had leading parks levy campaign and his activism with the Sierra Club, the national environmental organization. The winner of this race will likely not be known for days, as more mail-in ballots trickle in. They need only have been postmarked by election day to count.[5]
Candidate for mayor Joe Mallahan reaches over the podium to shake hands after the first release of returns during an election return party on Tuesday at the Edgewater Hotel on Seattle's waterfront. "I'd like to offer prayers for the family, the colleagues and the people of this city," Mallahan said. After two-term incumbent Greg Nickels was ousted in the August primary, voters were left to choose between two men most people in Seattle had never heard of before this year. In many ways the election became less about them and more of a referendum on the way the city does things.[22] Quick note on that map, you'll notice Dow Constantine, No on 1033, and Joe Mallahan are all at the Edgewater. As the Sesame Street song goes, one of these things is not like the others. Specifically, one of these things didn't participate in a massive party at the Crocodile with an appearance by famous people like Krist Novoselic and Presidents of the United States of America. Is there a rift in the great Seattle hipster-inspriring union of Constantine and Mike McGinn? Constantine spokesperson Sandeep Kaushik says it's just a coincidence his candidate and Mallahan are ending up in the same place together tomorrow night.[23] Seattle mayoral candiate Mike McGinn addresses his supporters at the War Room in Seattle after early returns showed him leading opponent Joe Mallahan in Seattle Tuesday. In a city known for taking its time making decisions, it's only fitting that it will be awhile before Seattle knows who the next mayor will be.[22] Mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan greets a supporter yesterday at the Edgewater Hotel. At the time of publication, the mayoral race was too close to call with Mallahan trailing slightly more than 1 percent behind opponent Mike McGinn.[16]
The new totals will be crucial to Seattle's tight mayoral race, with rivals Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan separated by a mere 910 votes. Coppersmith said she's not sure how many of the votes counted today will be from Seattle.[24] With the latest King 5 poll indicating a very tight race in today's mayoral face-off between Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan, we may not know the outcome for weeks, depending on how long it takes to count the mail-in ballots. One thing we do know: McGinn has made his "Mike Bikes" mantra central to his campaign. (Especially after that flip-flop on the tunnel.)[25] The Seattle's mayoral race is too close to call, with environmentalist attorney Mike McGinn leading T-Mobile executive Mallahan in the first count of ballots released by King County tonight.[17] By electing Dow Constantine for King County Executive, Mike O'Brien for City Council and voting down I-1033, and with Mike McGinn holding a slim lead in the race for Mayor, Seattle and King County voters simply get it. This election is not only a win for the Puget Sound region and for two of the Sierra Club's Cascade Chapter leaders; it is a win for climate change, for the future of our light rail system and for smart growth policies.[26]
"We're very gratified that we have a lead on election night. It was a very close race," McGinn said. The winner of this race will likely not be known for days. At a popular park in Seattle on Tuesday, voters queried about the election were split on their choice for mayor.[6]
Mallahan may have a slight edge among voters who have not yet returned a ballot but who promise to do so before tomorrow's deadline," Survey USA says. Perhaps the most notable thing from the guts of the poll is the revelation that McGinn's backing away from his staunch viaduct tunnel opposition appears to have had no real effect. Fifty-four percent of those asked said his switch makes no differences to them, while 22 percent said they were more likely to vote for him and 22 percent said they were less likely. McGinn underperformed in this survey before the primary. Keep in mind if the race is truly this close we may not have a winner tomorrow night, having to wait until more ballots are counted later in the week.[9] In that primary, McGinn edged out Mallahan with 27.6 percent of the overall vote. Seattle voters cast their ballots to elect one of them as their next mayor.[16] McGinn led by 910 votes on Tuesday night. In the August primary, McGinn and Mallahan outpolled Mayor Greg Nickels, a two-term incumbent, after he was dogged by criticism of the city's response to a December snowstorm that paralyzed Seattle for nearly two weeks.[12] "The mayor's contest is like two other great American races, between Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble, and Yogi Bear and Booboo." "These guys don't wear pants." I have a feeling he'd be offended. Greg Nickels might get mad at such a joke, but he'd get over it. My impression of Joe is that he wouldn't be able to get past it, any more than he could the length of my hair when we met. Is McGinn any better? He's sort of a chubby version of Nick Licata, a progressive darling, but his campaign self-destructed when the City Council and Christine Gregoire endorsed the tunnel that he hates. Mallahan's campaign has also self-destructed: it's tens of thousands of dollars in debt for campaign consultants, which doesn't speak well of budgetary management.[27] Mallahan quickly became the establishment candidate. He was endorsed by almost all of Nickels' previous supporters - business, labor and the city's political elite. They were terrified by McGinn's anti-tunnel stance. Mallahan, the vice president at cell phone giant T-Mobile who helped fund his campaign with $230,000 of his own money, argued that after eight years of debate it was time to move forward with replacing the viaduct. He said too often the city gets bogged down in endless process. That dithering is annoying in good times, but Mallahan said in bad times like the Great Recession its harmful to business and costs the city jobs.[22] With no public record to go by in Seattle, Mallahan talked about his business experience and his community-organizing days when he lived in Chicago in the 1990s. He got through the primary by spending $230,000 of his own money on his campaign, coupled with relentless criticism of the Nickels administration. McGinn, 49, is an attorney who quit his job defending corporations to create a public-interest nonprofit, the Seattle Great City Initiative.[13]
Nickels, a two-term incumbent, had been dogged by criticism of the city's response to a December snowstorm that paralyzed Seattle for nearly two weeks. Following the primary, Mallahan and McGinn - both Democrats - set out to establish their names among Seattle voters.[6]
TechFlash reporter John Cook admits it's a far-fetched theory, but when every vote counts, he wrote, it's worth asking whether Tuesday's T-Mobile outages could have hurt Seattle mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan, a former vice president at the company. "There's probably a very, very small percentage of Seattle voters who procrastinated with their ballots, and may have been impacted by the outage which started at about 2:30 p.m. on election day," Cook wrote.[28] University of Washington Professor Matt Barreto defended a poll he published just before the Seattle mayoral election showing Mike McGinn trailing Joe Mallahan by seven points.[29] Joe Mallahan was gaining on Mike McGinn in the latest returns just released this afternoon in the race for Seattle mayor.[21] In this corner, we have the Survey USA poll run by KING-TV, which found the race a dead heat between Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan. (That poll was released yesterday.)[30]
Mike McGinn, seen here at an October candidate forum at Ballard High School, saw his lead over opponent Joe Mallahan narrow when the second round of election results was released Nov. 4.[31] Mayoral candidate and Greenwood resident Mike McGinn saw his lead over opponent Joe Mallahan shrink when the second round of results from the Nov. 3 general were released at 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 4.[31]
Neither candidate - Joe Mallahan nor Mike McGinn - has held political office before. Both men defeated two-term incumbent Greg Nickels in the August primary.[32]
Last night, Mike McGinn was holding a more than 1 percent lead over Joe Mallahan.[33] Attorney Mike McGinn, who was opposed by the business, labor and political establishment while running a populist campaign, was leading businessman Joe Mallahan in early returns Tuesday night.[22]
Interestingly, the techie ''' T-Mobile USA executive Joe Mallahan ''' was just edging out the environmentalist ''' Mike McGinn.[34]
Seattle's mayoral race was too close to call Tuesday night, with environmentalist attorney Mike McGinn holding a narrow lead over T-Mobile.[13] Mike McGinn supporters Ben Greuel, left, of Seatle and Patrick Schmitt of Seattle make phone calls to tell voters where they can still turn in ballots during an election night party at the War Room in Seattle.[22] "I'm still very optimistic." Seattle City Councilmember Sally Clark hugged McGinn at his party and said, "You should be very careful or you could actually end up being mayor." After McGinn spoke to his supporters, an unusual campaign tactic emerged. His campaign handed out pre-paid cellphones and lists of undecided voters to at least 20 volunteers, with instructions to call the voters to see if they had not yet voted. If the voters had not yet cast ballots, they were asked to drop their ballots off at five QFC stores around Seattle where McGinn volunteers would be stationed.[17] With 85,000 ballots counted, McGinn is currently up by 910 votes. As McGinn came out to talk at his party at The War Room, supporters burst into huge cheers, hugged and high-fived chanted of "We like Mike." If the results hold it would be an upset for McGinn, who was outspent by more than 3-to-1, opposed by the city's biggest business and labor groups, and seemed to back down on his biggest campaign issue opposition to the deep-bore tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct two weeks ago.[17] McGinn's insurgent campaign was outspent 3-to-1 and opposed by the city's biggest labor and business groups. McGinn even threw what many considered a Hail Mary pass two weeks ago by backing away somewhat from his signature issue of the campaign: opposition to the deep-bore tunnel planned for Seattle's waterfront. His party at The War Room, a Capitol Hill bar, erupted in cheers of "we like Mike" after results were posted.[13]
There are well over 100,000 ballots that could still be returned in the mayoral race. When the results were announced, McGinn shouted "thank you Seattle!" as his supporters cheered at his campaign party at the War Room nightclub on Capitol Hill. He told the crowd he always knew he wouldn't have as much money as his opponent but was confident people would respond "if we talked about what the future of Seattle would be."[22] Last night, members and supporters of the McGinn campaign met at The War Room club in Capitol Hill to wait for the results of the Seattle mayoral election. Armed with an unwavering belief that they would not only win, but also know the results tonight, McGinn and his supporters waited for the numbers to flash on their projection screen.[16]
Mayoral candidate Mike McGinn talks with supporters at The War Room nightclub on Capitol Hill last night.[16] We'll obviously put that on hold a little bit." Mike McGinn celebrated with his supporters at a Capitol Hill bar, but with a lead of less than one percentage point, he says he is taking nothing for granted. McGinn: "I get some sleep in the morning, and then somewhere around you know, 4:00 p.m. tomorrow we start worrying about the next ballot drop. It's in the hands of the voters now.[7]
The new poll shows that Mallahan now has 45 percent of the electorate, while lawyer and environmental activist Mike McGinn is at 43 percent. That's within the poll's 4 percent margin of error. This suggests that the key is going to be what happens with the 12 percent of voters who say they are still undecided.[35] The candidates were separated in the batch of election returns Tuesday night by just 910 votes, with McGinn in the lead. Barreto said he thinks his poll was right, and McGinn's last-minute gains are a testament to his get-out-the-vote effort. They also show undecided voters are breaking for McGinn, Barreto said. His poll showed 19 percent of likely voters were undecided.[29] Although McGinn supporters''' excitement at the early lead was certainly understandable, given Mallahan'''s general domination of the polls, at 8:15 p.m., the election was hardly over, with more than 75 percent of the vote left to count.[16] The TechFlash poll of 455 votes showed McGinn with 43 percent of the vote to Mallahan's 45 percent. As I said, this is a far-fetched theory that T-Mobile cost Mallahan the election.[1]
Mallahan gets the nod from moderates, Republicans, older folks and wealthier people. Independents were split, with each candidate taking 44 percent of their vote. SurveyUSA says compared to their last poll, Mallahan is up two, McGinn seven.[9]
Today with more ballots counted the separation has only gotten smaller; the Seattle P-I and other media outlets are now reporting that McGinn leads Mallahan by 462 votes. If a dozen of them stayed home, you could fit this number of people into Jillian's on Eastlake or the Jefferson Community Center.[18] At 8:15 p.m., the preliminary results came in: With 23.76 percent of the vote counted, McGinn had a slight lead of 50.03 percent to Mallahan'''s 48.96 percent.[16]
In a sense, Joe was right at home with tonight's results, which show the race pretty much up in the air. "I think I will make a great mayor if I get the chance," Mallahan said, as he took the podium, about a half-hour after results were posted. (The assembled crowd had begun chanting "Joe! Joe! Joe! etc." which seemed more an expression of impatience than enthusiasm.) While he indicated that an early lead for McGinn was expected, Mallahan's speech and general bearing seemed far from confident of victory. As usual, his awkward charm was in evidence, too. "This has been a campaign of inclusion," said Mallahan in his speech. "There's extraordinary diversity in this room."[36] The race became more negative and personal in the closing weeks. McGinn placed automated "robocalls" accusing Mallahan of siding with the National Rifle Association for not fully supporting Seattle's new ban on guns on most municipal property while Mallahan's campaign ran ads accusing McGinn of lying about his viaduct tunnel stance.[22] The position is technically nonpartisan. Mallahan won key endorsements from established local politicians - including Gov. Chris Gregoire; business organizations, and labor unions, largely because of his support for a highway tunnel under downtown Seattle that would replace the earthquake-damaged Alaskan Way Viaduct. McGinn made opposition to the tunnel a centerpiece of his primary campaign, but softened his position a few weeks ago. His campaign highlighted experience he had leading parks levy campaign and his activism with the Sierra Club, the national environmental organization.[6]
"We need to help each other build a community that really works for the future of us and the future of our children. That's what has happened so far in this campaign," McGinn said. He acknowledged the race was too close to call, but said, "It's a good night." At his party at the Edgewater Hotel, Mallahan thanked his supporters and said he was hopeful that late votes would swing his way. "It's been a campaign of inclusion," Mallahan said.[22] A manual recount is required for a race if the difference is less than 150 votes AND also less than one quarter of one percent. McGinn, an attorney and environmentalist, ran a volunteer-driven campaign that was built around his opposition to replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel. Though he softened his stance late last month he continued to rail about possible cost overruns on the $4.2 billion project.[11]
We need to talk about governance - the public cares about it, elected officials care about it. The fact it's the highest priority in the New York City mayor's race tells you how changing governance can have an effect." Without a change in governance, how would McGinn work with the district to try to effect change? he was asked. The city has some leverage, he replied - the Families and Education Levy, youth jobs program, advocacy in Olympia, for starters. Another government service for which the city is not directly responsible, transit, drew his criticism as well, as he declared the bus system a "regional failure" and said it's wrong to allow sizable cuts in bus service. On the topic of transportation, he brought up the thorny topic of his decision not to fight the tunnel that's planned to replace the Central Waterfront section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct: "I do think it's a bad choice too expensive, doesn't serve traffic needs but it's a city policy and a legislature policy to move ahead with it right now.[20] If there are 115,000 ballots counted today, 40,000 or so could be from the city. Not sure that will be enough to decide the mayor's race, but if McGinn widens his lead, it could give us a pretty good idea.[24]
With about 20,000 more votes tallied by King County Elections in the mayor's race, McGinn was leading by 462.[21] Or, more accurately, the last day to vote has arrived. Voters must have their ballots postmarked by Tuesday or return them to a drop box by 8 p.m. The election is entirely by mail and people in Seattle and King County began receiving their ballots more than two weeks ago.[32] The next vote drop will be Thursday at 4:30 p.m. King County Elections officials counted just under 20,000 Seattle mayoral votes Wednesday.[11]
With more than half of the expected vote counted, McGinn led Mallahan by just 462 votes after King County officials released more votes Wednesday afternoon.[12]
With 38 percent of the expected vote counted Tuesday night, about 84,000 votes, McGinn led Mallahan with roughly 50.54 percent.[6] With about 47 percent of the expected vote counted, Wednesday's latest numbers show McGinn with 49.77 percent and Mallahan closing in with 49.33 percent.[14]
At The Edgewater, Joe Mallahan was subdued but optimistic. He said he expected early votes to slightly favor McGinn a trend that appeared during the primary but sounded surprised he was behind.[17] From left, Sable Verity, Mica Powers, Michael Powers, Crystal Fincher and Terrance Bouldin-Johnson watch the first release of returns on their iPhones and Blackberries at a Joe Mallahan return party on Tuesday at the Edgewater Hotel on Seattle's waterfront. In their personal and campaign styles, Mallahan and McGinn were a study in contrasts.[22] If Dow Constantine wins as county exec, that may be a step toward greater transparency to the workings of Sound Transit as a publicly funded agency. My piece isn't about Sound Transit cheerleaders or critics, regardless of this side discussion. It's about Joe Mallahan and whether or not he will represent the best interests of the voters and other people of Seattle in his duties as mayor should he be elected. I'm not convinced that he will.[27] I didn't hear back from Joe. Though Joe Mallahan was interested in light rail, he was unaware of the history of Sound Transit as an agency, or how closely state politicians had studied the South End experience as an example of what not to do. He said that he would be on the Sound Transit board, and that there comes a time when these projects move forward. He doesn't seem to grok that Sound Transit has been grossly unaccountable for the way it's spent public money.[27]
Pictured left, Randy Engstrom, director, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, gives an overview of the center's history, activities, and future needs to Seattle Mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan, who toured the center after chatting with pedestrians and business owners in the Junction. He was then on his way to Seacrest Park.[19] What's funny and a bit sad about all this is that Joe Mallahan is very much a liberal, and in any other part of the country he'd be being slammed by the right wingers for his political leanings. Here, in Seattle, McGinn looks like the liberal because he's so much further to the left.[9]
LOL! Way to accept responsibilty for a flawed poll. Matt Barreto, one of the pollsters, tells via e-mail that the Seattle sample size in this. His poll was only of 764 voters state wide and it only 36 total polled for McGinn and 44 for Mallahan so I am not sure what sort of statistical.[29] The smart money was that Mallahan, with a 3-to-1 money advantage and a lot of support from the political establishment, was the odds-on favorite to win. That's what the polls showed, anyway, at least until right before the election. I don't know if it's fair to compare what's happening in Seattle with what happened in New York City Tuesday, but the comparison is interesting. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the city's richest citizen, spent at least $90 million of his own money seeking a third term and polls showed that it could be a blowout. City comptroller Bill Thompson lost by just five percentage points, which he and his supporters saw as a kind of moral victory.[8] Considering I'm the one who doesn't have the most money, talking to the voters is the most important thing." Dryly, McGinn shot back, "It's a remarkable thing about elections - If I get elected, I think I'll get a whole bunch of new friends fast. (And) there's a difference between working with the business community and having them come in and take over your campaign I think it'll be an advantage to the city to have someone whose election was not dependent on the power brokers."[20]
'''I knew that elections were about people, and I knew that elections were about the future,''' McGinn said. '''We knew we wouldn'''t have the money that other campaigns had ''' but I knew if we talked about what the future of Seattle could be, they would join in, and they would respond to a message about the future.'''[16] McGinn and O'''Brien championed grassroots campaigns that relied on the power of volunteers over wealthy special interests groups. Just as they led the Sierra Club in our campaign to prevent the construction of 182 miles worth of polluting suburban highways, they went directly to the people of Seattle for this fundamental win for change. All of these leaders see what our future can be, and the victories across the board are a great validation that the people of Seattle recognize that status quo leadership will not fulfill our collective vision of better lives for future generations.[26]
I'm liberal as hell, and I'm voting Mallahan because I still need to get to work. The tunnel is a bad idea, the only one that makes less sense is McGinn's "surface/transit" crap that he made the central issue of his campaign: Evidently it's perfectly okay to cut off an entire region of our city. which I admittedly live in. in order to make the waterfront nice for developers and the wealthy. and "get people out of their cars"? I know these dolts have some computer model they say show their nefarious little plan not causing the sort of massive gridlock that ensues every time they close the viaduct, but they and their models have obviously never been here.[9] What about the not-so-big members of the business community? asked Patti Mullen, CEO of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, inquiring about what McGinn would do to support the small-business sector. More than suggesting incentives, his reply focused on clearing away perceived roadblocks. "What I hear most is that issues around permitting and working with city government are frustrating, having to go to multiple places to get answers " He cited the example of Portland's street-food community: "They make it easier for people to license street-food vendors, who provide healthy food, a vibrant street culture - and they're a type of business with a low barrier to entry" (financially). And, he said, "we could help people who may not understand how to work the system, to get it." "I'd hope to be able to say there's a higher degree of collaboration between the city, school district, and other agencies more people choosing public schools I would like to be able to say that even though times are tough, we kept a focus on providing services and resources to those in need That we have a transit system that's stronger buses are more frequent, more reliable that we've made a commitment to expand the light-rail network, and started building out a fiber-optic neighborhood to connect the city. RSS feed for comments on this post.[20] Mallahan was met in the Junction by a contingent of neighborhood and business leaders including West Seattle Chamber of Commerce ]] West Seattle Chamber of Commerce president/CEO Patti Mullen, Vlad Oustimovitch, Pete Spalding, and Joan Jeffrey. (Mullen and Spalding also were at Mike McGinn's West Seattle town hall yesterday.)[37] UPDATE: At the Mallahan party at The Edgewater, the candidate continued to wear a smile and work the crowd in a small low-ceilinged ballroom tonight more than an hour after election-night results showed him trailing Mike McGinn. Asked why he was behind despite a big fundraising advantage and prominent endorsements, Mallahan admitted he found it "stunning" that McGinn was leading.[17] The latest numbers have Mike McGinn leading Mallahan in the race by a small margin.[28]
Mallahan and McGinn were survivors of an eight-way August primary that ousted two-term incumbent Mayor Greg Nickels. Mallahan, 47, is a T-Mobile vice president who was virtually unknown in local political circles when he entered the race in May.[13] Mallahan and McGinn are two political newcomers. Both outpolled Mayor Greg Nickels in the August primary and advanced to Tuesday's election. Nickels had been dogged by criticism of his handling of a snow storm last year.[4]
Thompson, The New York Times reported, seemed to be looking ahead to running again four years from now. In New York, the big issue was voter unhappiness that Bloomberg rammed through a repeal of the term-limits law so he could run again. That wasn't an issue in Seattle, but voters in the primary rejected the attempt by the incumbent mayor, Greg Nickels, to win a third term. In both cities, they looked skeptically at the advertising.[8]
Having worked with the 5 star idiot Mallahan for the last 7 years I am torn.it is great not to have him in the comany - he made such a mess of things while he was here - one of the primary reasons we are in the trouble we are today. As a Seattle resident, I am worried he will win and he will not be able to stop himself from doing the same thing to the city. I guess I lose either way - he will do more damage as Mayor however.[9] "Every time I'm over here I am struck by how engaged and energetic West Seattleites are. It's clear that when West Seattle residents are given the tools and resources to make things happen, they happen. "We've got to get the economy back on track," he continued. "I think a mayor's roll is to insure that all the city departments understand that all the city's residents and businesses are the customer and we just have to always be focused on them succeeding and not having the city get in the way which I think happens too often."[19]
Stay home. way to support the economy and the working. If McGinn wins, it will be proof that Seattle is turning into Portland, where they elect one issue candidates with no grasp of the real issues. After seeing a majority of the characters that I was standing in the voting line with during last years election, its not surprising.[13]
Apart from the viaduct tunnel and the city's $25-per-employee head tax for infrastructure improvements (Mallahan for, McGinn against) the candidates had few major, if any, major policy disagreements. They both were for expanded gay rights, trimming the city bureaucracy and improving relationships with state lawmakers. They both cited their "progressive" values and their ties to the community.[22] The two men ran contrasting campaigns. Mallahan sought endorsements from big-name labor and business groups that had shunned him during the primary. McGinn responded to criticism that he was a one-issue candidate by issuing policy statements on public safety, taxes and other issues. He held 23 neighborhood town halls. Mallahan raised more than $688,000, including his own $230,000 contribution, and relied on paid consultants.[13]
After the first batch of results was released Tuesday night, less than 1,000 votes separated the two candidates. "We're definitely in a better situation than any of us would expect at this time," said Charla Neuman, spokeswoman for the Mallahan campaign, "given that we cut the gap in half but yet there were so few additional votes counted."[5] I expected there to be twice as many votes counted today," Neuman said. "The fact that we made this much progress remains reason to be hopeful that undecideds decided to vote for Joe." McGinn's campaign said he was spending two days with his family and would be available for direct comment on Friday.[11] UPDATE.: Speaking to a jubilant crowd of volunteers hugging, high-fiving and chanting "We like Mike," McGinn said the next few days would be tense as more votes are counted.[17]
Based on past experience, that age bracket will make up only 13 percent of the vote. Since younger voters favor McGinn, the poll may be overestimating his support. "It could also very well be that McGinn has a huge turnout machine that will turn out the 18- to 34-year-old vote, in which case he surges, but this would be a first in an off-year election; younger voters tend to skip these local contests," Barreto said.[30] With 12 percent undecided and a 4.1 percent margin of error, that means the outcome is totally up in the air, according to the poll. That's a different story than the poll released last week by University of Washington researchers. That poll of 400 likely voters over a two-week period found Mallahan surging ahead of McGinn.[10] The Survey USA poll is done by automated software. In this corner, we have The Washington Poll, run by University of Washington political scientists. That poll, released last week, claimed Mallahan was ahead, with 44 percent support to McGinn's 36 percent.[30] The McGinn camp criticized The Washington Poll when it came out last week, arguing the same poll had underestimated McGinn's strength before the August primary. Matt Barreto, the UW political science professor who runs the poll, sent me an e-mail earlier today with his own critique of the Survey USA poll. While Barreto said it could well be that later voters are breaking for McGinn, he said the Survey USA poll looks to be counting on too many young voters. The poll has 25 percent of its responses coming from registered voters between 18 and 34.[30]
"We really defied the conventional wisdom, that the candidate with the most money, the candidate that has the longest list of endorsements can win it," McGinn said. Even as they celebrated, McGinn's supporters continued to work. They passed out cellphones and lists of undecided voters to volunteers, with instructions to find people who hadn't mailed their ballots. Those voters were urged to drop off ballots at five QFC stores where McGinn volunteers collected them and drove them to be postmarked at a SeaTac post office that stayed open until nearly midnight.[13] Staffers set to work contacting late voters, frantically unpacking prepaid cell phones for volunteers, and organizing carpools for last-minute runs to Sea-Tac airport to get ballots postmarked before 11 p.m. One volunteer explained: '''We are going to call everybody that we have IDed in the city as our supporter that we know has not voted yet.''' While his staffers scrambled to secure the late voters, McGinn took time to talk with The Daily. '''I think students, more than anyone, understand that the decisions we make now have really significant effects long into the future, and that we need to take the long view on all of the decisions we make now,''' he said. '''I hope they'''ll recognize the most meaningful thing they can do is to get involved with their community.'''[16]
McGinn tried to say "no" gently "We need to move faster on public transit anyway - RapidRide, we should do - and I've also committed to putting expanded light rail in front of voters within two years." The tunnel, you could hear between the lines, seemed a fait accompli, though, he said, "we are going to have to hear back what the cost estimates are while we have an agreement to move forward, I don't think the City Council wants to pay the cost overruns either." Would his experience as a lawyer help with that? an attendee asked.[20]
I guess you interpret from these results that a bicycle beats a Prius but not by very much!! Seattle is in trouble regardless of who wins this race. The issues are too serious for someone with no political experience to lead this city. Once again the voters in their attempt to be green and cutting edge have outwitted themselves.[11] In the race for Seattle City Council Position 6, the candidates seem to offer liberal Seattle voters a choice between left and leftier.[7]
City voters will also cast ballots in races for the City Attorney, City Council and decide the fate of a low-income housing levy. Countywide people will chose an executive to replace Ron Sims, who left earlier this year for a job in President Barack Obama's administration.[32]
"I know something about negotiating and pushing for a cause," McGinn insisted. That paved the way for another person to challenge McGinn flatly: "One criticism is your lack of management experience. Your experience with Sierra Club and community service is laudable, but in those cases, you are preaching to the choir. As the manager, the chief executive officer of the city, with a lot of people who don't agree with you, how would you take your lack of management experience and manage a diverse group of people to keep them on track toward the same goal."[20] "I just like the way McGinn was looking down the road for ways of getting around the city, using your bike, using mass transit. I liked his vision," she said.[6]
McGinn: possibly the next and most bicycle friendly mayor of Seattle? (No image of Mallahan on a bike could be found; but that doesn't mean he can't ride one.) Below: an outbound Nickels looking wobbly on the sidewalk; and a more confident Sims on his roadie. [25] We get the idea already. He certainly seems more competent on two wheels than outgoing mayor Greg Nickels (though not quite so hardcore as former King County Exec and STP rider Ron Sims). If McGinn pedals to victory, here's the bicycle friendly politician he should emulate: London mayor Boris Johnson, who, the Guardian reports, "rescued a woman from three 'feral kids' who were wielding an iron bar, chasing them away on his bicycle." On his bicycle ? Feral kids? Badass! The woman Johnson rescued--a documentary filmmaker, no less--called him "my knight on a shining bicycle."[25] Two political newcomers battled Tuesday to be Seattle's next mayor, and a former TV news anchor and a seasoned local politician faced off for King County's highest office.[15] Mail-in ballots are pouring in to the King County Elections office. (Get yours post-marked by tomorrow if you want it to count!) So far, the office has received about 20 percent of the ballots that went out here in Seattle.[23] King County Elections spokesperson Megan Coppersmith says the county's 4:30 p.m. vote update this afternoon will include between 85,000 and 115,000 more ballots.[24] King County not delaying votes. Most people only dropped or mailed their ballots off yesterday and it would have been physically impossible to. Wow, Bill. you dont know who is going to win, but youre sure that whoever it is must have cheated? It must suck to live in your.[24]
As we learned in the close, early days after the primary, a machine recount in King County is automatically triggered when the vote spread is less than 2,000 votes and one-half of one percent (as it is now).[33]
Barreto noted that the poll mirrored Tuesday's results in the King County executive's race almost exactly. "We don't think that the poll was wrong at the time that it was taken," he said.[29] In King County, voters will decide who will be the next county executive, choosing between County Council Chairman Dow Constantine and former TV news anchor Susan Hutchison.[15]
You don't come up with $2.3 billion in three years when the taxing subarea is Seattle and North King County.[27]
Mallahan supported the option agreed to by city, county and state leaders - a deep-bored tunnel that would open up Seattle's waterfront.[22] I have to agree with canycat. Not a big McGinn fan, but not sure I trust Mallahan to be sufficiently independent of those groups. McGinn did, at least, realize that his tunnel opposition was unsustainable given the support of the state and a 9-0 council vote.[9] Mallahan, a vice president at cell phone giant T-Mobile, raised far more money than McGinn and had the backing of business and labor interests w ho were put off by McGinn's anti-viaduct tunnel rhetoric.[11] "McGinn favored by the young, the liberal and those who don't make much money. Mallahan gets the nod from moderates, Republicans, older folks and wealthier people" That about sums it up.[9]
"I don't want to sound like a victim, but the only thing I can surmise is all the negative messages about Joe Mallahan somehow resonated with people," Mallahan said.[17] Joe Mallahan's campaign for mayor has always had a slightly noncommittal air to it. Leaving aside the cash he's poured into the race, the man himself has always come off as reasonably interested in being mayor, but not burning up with the kind of intense ambition for the job displayed by his opponent.[36] I was leaning toward the Mallahan camp until October 25, when Joe Mallahan and a small entourage of campaign workers came to Beacon Hill for a walkabout.[27] Joe Mallahan, Dow Constantine and the No on 1033 campaigns are going to be at the Edgewater Hotel.[38]
Recent polling had suggested that telecommunications executive Joe Mallahan was carving out a solid lead, although there were a lot of undecided voters.[35] We're electing a leader, not a manager." That mention not by name of opponent Joe Mallahan was the first in the meeting, more than half an hour after it began. McGinn continued, "I don't think my opponent knows yet what he is going into when he goes into the civic arena, very different from the corporate world.[20] "If it was close, we've got to mobilize." UPDATE: Joe Mallahan just arrived at his party at The Edgewater Hotel on Seattle's waterfront.[17] I see that Real Estate interests support Joe Mallahan and are using their money to pollute the airways with negative ads.[9] Joe Mallahan has recognized the stupidy of "surface/transit", and that does not make him, or me, a Republican, though I will grace your comment with a good 'ol fashioned Dick Cheney Style "Go. yourself".[9]
I didn't want to have any more studies," 41-year-old Seattle resident Anne Aliverti said. Krista Means, a 41-year-old stay-at-home mom, said she voted for McGinn, but that if Mallahan wins, she wouldn't be disappointed. [6] Micaila Hopkins, of Seattle, said passing R-71 is the main issue for her. She had just cast her ballot for McGinn. Zeke Hernandez, of West Seattle, said he is still deciding who to vote for. His girlfriend, Huyen Nguyen, of Renton, is not a citizen yet and can't vote.[39] "We had a plan," said volunteer Nate Cormier, standing outside the West Seattle Junction QFC, holding a blue McGinn sign and ballots from three voters.[17]
McGinn, a graduate of the UW School of Law, has lived in Seattle since 1989 and has worked as a lawyer and environmental activist. He has served as president of the Greenwood Community Council, founded a nonprofit program called Great City, served as 2008 co-chair of Seattle Parks for All, and also participated in the Sierra Club.[16] McGinn opposed it, saying the $4.2 billion project was too expensive, was forced on the city and would unfairly burden Seattle residents with cost overruns.[22]
Watch out, Sue Rahr. This has happened before. Last year, following Sharon Tomiko-Santos' racist meltdown in a community meeting, a number of folks contacted me telling me they'd written me in as state rep. Since the incumbent was running unopposed, and I hadn't declared my candidacy to even myself, she was a shoo-in, though she apparently lost several hundred votes when the tally was compared to other contests. This November, we can anticipate a large number of write-ins for City of Seattle positions.[27] Although voters in the largely Democratic county made the position nonpartisan last year, Constantine is a veteran Democratic politician, having served in the state Legislature and the county council. He claimed victory Tuesday night. "That was over quick, wasn't it?" Constantine told cheering supporters. "Nine months of working every day and just 15 minutes of waiting for those results. It's been a tough campaign."[6] In Washington state, mail ballots only need to be postmarked by Tuesday. Secretary of State Sam Reed says that as a result, he wouldn't call any race within 5 percentage points on election night.[35] The elections office is expecting turnout in the city to hit 57 percent. Don't get too excited with the first results come out at 8:15 p.m. tomorrow; remember that it's possible we won't know the winner in the closer races until later in the week. That's not stopping the candidates from gearing up for the annual election ritual of raising glasses in presumed victory or giving teary concession speeches in area hotels and bars.[23] There was also a great feeling of good cheer--though not because of Mallahan's results. Everyone in the crowd was so thrilled at all the other numbers--R71 passing, Eyman going down, Dow going up--that they seemed to be able to overlook the unpromising numbers from their own candidate. It may be that even for many diehard Mallahan supporters, the other races are ultimately more critical.[36] If the race remains close, it could be several days before a clear winner emerges. McGinn supporters say it's a good sign that their candidate is in the lead, even though he was out-spent 3-to-1 and the largest business and labor groups backed his opponent.[3] Mallahan takes a small lead after Thursday's count, and eventually survives a lengthy recount process = McGinn supporters implode from bottled up self-righteousness.[11] I started out as a Mallahan supporter, but switched to McGinn, and have already sent in my ballot.[20] McGinn's campaign continued to collect ballots from supporters until the last post office closed at midnight.[7]
McGinn supporters took no chances Tuesday night, giving out prepaid cell phones to volunteers to secure last-minute votes.[16] Just 910 votes separated the men; McGinn had 42,563 votes and Mallahan had 41,653.[22] John hopes R-71 passes and I-1033 fails. Nicole Winn is for R-71 and for McGinn, but she wasn't quite sure of his chances. Jennifer Rotch said both candidates for mayor seem inexperienced. She's voting for Mallahan.[39] McGinn and his cult following of true believers are still trying to entice the gullible, I see. This mayor election is a contest between one candidate with civic experience, a strong and dedicated volunteer base and the support of the.[15]
The world will now end as two idiots blither their way into possibly making the office of Seattle mayor worse than it already is. I had a feeling The Nickels Haters would arrive at this conclusion by election day.[9] Before I met him, I was going to vote for him, though I voted for Greg Nickels in the primary since I believe in a strong mayor model for the city.[27] John entered the primary and ran on the platform, "I'll buy your vote for a dollar." Aspiring to greater public identity, he went to his hair stylist and said, "Make me look like this." He handed her a picture of someone then in the news, John Doe Number Two from the Oklahoma City Murrow Federal Office Building bombing. She threw him out of the salon.[27]
"I've put that on the table." He also observed that in New York, where the school district is a branch of city government, the schools are a major topic in the current mayoral race, because there's "direct accountability (while) we don't know who to hold accountable (in Seattle) right now when things don't go right.[20] If you believe this new poll from SurveyUSA, the Seattle mayor's race has suddenly turned into a dead heat.[35] The one big race that isn't decided, and in fact might just be getting started, is the fight to be Seattle's next mayor.[33]
Referendum 71 joins the mayoral race as the only race truly up in the air for Seattle after the second day of vote counting.[31] We've had 20 town halls, 10 news conferences 20,000 volunteer hours on the campaign, (while) my opponent has surrounded himself with consultants and contractors (and) has held one press conference. He has not held open town halls to take questions from the public. At the end of the day, it's not the person with the big pot of money that wins the race, it's the person with the most votes.[20]
The point around Sound Transit is one of accountability. The voters and taxpayers of a three-county area have the right to ask those representatives on the ST board how their tax money is spent. Those reps have the responsibility to answer those questions, and no unknown apologist for Sound Transit can do that. Why shouldn't we ask them what happened to that first billion dollars on their watch, and so perhaps stop it from happening again? Why shouldn't we ask them why locally raised money is being spent on an artist from New York for the Capitol Hill station? Even so relatively small an amount of the ST budget should seem to be reinvested in our own people, our own artists.[27] Keeping a $2+ billion project on track over a period of nearly 8 years, that's quite an achievement. The voters (including Beacon Hill voters!) must have been acknowledging that last November when they approved the extended light rail plan and higher Sound Transit taxes.[27] Good morning, and Roger that! Sounds like a couple of the usual Sound Transit plants have spoken - both from Beacon Hill.[27]
Ron Sims, Greg Nickels, Richard Conlin, and other Sound Transit board members have always refused to answer questions about how the agency spent $1 billion dollars without laying an inch of track - it took Patti Murray's political expertise to get federal money on a one-time basis to build the sole existing route. With Joe, we shouldn't expect oversight of Sound Transit's processes or expenditures.[27] Craig Thompson returns with his mastery of distorting history. You can be sure that his stories came straight out of neighborhood gossip networks. Ron Sims, Greg Nickels, Richard Conlin, and other Sound Transit board members have always refused to answer questions about how the agency spent $1 billion dollars without laying an inch of track Umm, they "refused to answer questions" because the question is idiotic.[27]
As a leader of the local Sierra Club, McGinn led environmentalist opposition to a failed multibillion-dollar roads-and-transit measure in 2007. He campaigned for Sound Transit's light-rail expansion plan, which passed last year. [13] The 10 year Sound Move plan did not get under way until 1997, after the vote passed in late 1996 - 2007 is when the RTA became Sound Transit. Construction was delayed for two years because transit opponents did their best to kill the project through lawsuits, lobbying the federal government, and holding up permits in Tukwila.[27]
The point around Sound Transit is one of accountability. The voters and taxpayers of a three-county area have the right to ask those representatives on the ST board how their tax money is spent. Those reps have the responsibility to answer those questions, and no unknown apologist for Sound Transit can do that.[27]
I ride the Link train to downtown and to the Airport and it works just fine, certainly faster and more reliable than Metro buses moving in traffic. If Thompson did his homework, like I did, he'd discover the Link line actually came in on time and on budget, following the plan adopted by the Sound Transit board in November 2001.[27]
". having customers of his company on the day of the election saying things like 'I am really beginning to hate T-Mobile' probably didn't help matters." Cook also pointed out that the outages might have hurt communication at a crucial time among his staff, assuming its members used T-Mobile.[28] In one of the debates last week Mallahan actually did say that a mayor ought to worry about the basics like plowing the streets before he looks at the school system. I think a mayor ought to be able to take care of both and we have schools in trouble for a lot more days a year than we have snow around here.[20] After delivering what sounded very much like a campaign speech Mallahan asked everyone to pause and honor Officer Timothy Brenton, a Seattle police officer killed in the line of duty last Saturday.[2] Mallahan's operation was run by veteran campaign strategists and counted City Council members, state lawmakers and top labor leaders as advisors. In forums and debates Mallahan stressed his mainstream business and management experience.[22] Mallahan is the last thing the city and the people of Seattle need. He is a puppet of the interest groups and big business.[20] Mallahan, who came to the race with little political experience, was by no means ready to concede. "It's a great Seattle tradition; we never have any blowout campaigns," he told supporters at The Edgewater Hotel. "I think this thing is far from over." He joked: "I want a whole planeload of you down in Miami to do the recount."[13] Mallahan has some important family connections in Wesst Seattle. His uncle, Father James Mallahan, was Holy Rosary's parish priest in the 1980's, and his brother Pat, a house painter, lives in West Seattle. "At this point I'm in learning mode," Mallahan told the West Seattle Herald in an exclusive interview.[19] Christopher reports that along the way, the group talked to Mallahan about some of what they see as the top issues facing West Seattle residents, including car prowls and other crime, traffic and parking issues, and development. They continued on to tour the West Seattle waterfront, including Seacrest Park, as well as Youngstown Arts Center. RSS feed for comments on this post.[37] Invited and escorted by community activists Vlad Oustimovitch, Pete Spalding, and West Seattle Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, Patricia Mullen, Mallahan did a meet and greet at the Alaska Junction, toured the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, and checked out Seacrest Park.[19]
Mallahan also asked the crowd to observe a moment of silence for Seattle police officer Tim Brenton, who was slain Halloween night.[22] After months of campaigning, the answer still wasn' t in. "I'm on a plane down to Miami tonight for the recount," Mallahan joked Tuesday evening at his election night party. Larry Lange and Sara Kiesler contributed to this report; Chris Grygiel can be reached at 206-448-8363 or chrisgrygiel@seattlepi.com. If he really wins I think we will regret this.[22] We're going to try to keep this blog humming tonight with feeds, tweets, etc. from reporters, photographers and videographers out tonight. For journalists, covering election parties can be like crashing a rowdy Christmas party (for the winners), or it can be as fun as a car wreck (at losing campaigns, if they blame media coverage for the loss). That should keep the night lively, even if voters seem underwhelmed so far.[38] About 20 percent of the more than 1,084,000 ballots issued had been returned as of Monday for the all-mail election, according to the county's election office. Voters had until Tuesday to postmark their choices, or drop them off at select locations.[15] So far, Seattle has accounted for 35 percent of the votes cast in the county.[24] Ballard resident Jessie Israel has all but lost to incumbent Nick Licata, trailing 42.86 percent to 56.92 percent in the race for Seattle City Council Position 6.[31] In a sweeping win for the environment, the people of Seattle have proven once again that they care about moving our city and our world forward by electing leaders with a proven vision for a cleaner, greener planet.[26] The mayor doesn't get to pick which City Council actions to follow. (But) I'm still going to raise the tough questions, still going to be a skeptic, while working within the democratic process to see where it takes us. Democracy isn't just about the candidate speaking to the public, it's about the public speaking to the candidate and hearing people's concerns."[20] My completely non-scientific sample of voters and non-voters follows below. Only about half the people I stopped on the street agreed to talk to me (c'mon Seattleites, it's only a sketch!) My prediction based on what I heard this afternoon: Mallahan wins for mayor, R-71 passes and I-1033 loses.[39]
If approved by voters, Eyman's measure would cap the amount of money flowing into the general checking accounts of city, county and state governments. [32] "The conventional wisdom was that the candidate with the most money, the candidate that has the longest list of endorsements, can win it." "We constantly talked about the type of future we wanted for Seattle, and I think what it says is that Seattle and voters can look past the soundbites and rhetoric and can see past the amount of money thrown at them and just really evaluate the candidates."[17] If you want to toast your favorite candidate or just enjoy watching someone you opposed go down in flames, the Metropolitan Democratic Club of Seattle has put together a helpful Google map of tomorrow's election fetes.[23] Candidates and their supporters gather to hear the first results on election night, November 3rd, 2009.[40]
New results on gay rights measure R-71 show approval continues to hold a narrow lead, with yes votes creeping up to nearly 52 percent and no votes declining to 48 percent.[14] As of today, that lead shrank to 462 votes and less than.5 percent. That puts us solidly in recount territory.[33]
A machine recount is required for an office or a state measure if the difference between the top two candidates or between approval and rejection of a measure is less than 2,000 AND also less than one half of one percent of the total votes cast for the candidates or the measure.[11] Uh, your dishonesty didn't work. Why is there such difficulty with counting votes in elections in Washington state? You seem to have some kind of singular problem.[22] "Elections in Washington state can take a long time to be decided," McGinn said.[6] As a true liberal and progressive, all I can say is you're all clueless if you think we'd all be better off with McGinn. Extreme positions have their place in politics, but its rarely in a leadership role. If he wins, McGinn will flop in a big way, leaving the door wide open for conservatives to try and step through in the next election. They'd love that, and they know that, which is why they're being so quiet this election season.[9]
McGinn remained cautious after Tuesday's results, preparing for a long week of waiting for county workers to count the mailed-in ballots.[6] "We're waiting and watching the results like everyone else," McGinn said in a statement.[11] McGinn's flip-flop on the tunnel "sealed the deal" for her. She's against I-1033 and for R-71. "Everyone should have the same basic rights that I have as a married person," she said. Ross Piper said he didn't feel like he's paid enough attention to the issues.[39] You missed the real biking politician: Tom Carr. I see him biking all the time, but he doesn't make it some kind of political stunt like McGinn, whose gut is not something found on a real biker.[25]
UPDATE The poll's crosstabs have been released. They show McGinn favored by the young, the liberal and those who don't make much money.[9] Just last week the UW Poll showed Mallahan leading 44 percent to 36 percent with 19 percent unsure. The same SurveyUSA sampling two weeks ago showed Mallahan up 43-36, with 21 percent undecided.[9] "I'm still very optimistic that the remaining 60 percent will break my way," Mallahan told KCPQ-TV.[6] At the Mallahan walkaround, the two ST fans - one an employee of ST, the other a former employee - were saying how the Dearborn cut wasn't chosen for engineering reasons. Oh, brother, can't have it both ways guys "Engineering reasons?" You mean like, the need for an Operations Base? Or, do you mean something else.[27]
While some times short on policy specifics, Mallahan's demeanor was cheerful and upbeat. However there was an impersonal nature to his mayoral run that was off-putting to many observers.[22] Remember, either campaign can ask for a recount and if it changes the outcome, the candidate doesn't have to pay for it. All to say, if it gets any closer, we won't know the outcome of this race for awhile yet, so give it a little time before you pay out on any bets.[33] The Seattle Times political team explores state, regional and local politics.[10] The world will now end as two idiots blither their way into possibly making the office of Seattle mayor worse than it already is.[9] What happened to all the money we paid in the late 90's? More of the Seattle way, I guess.[27]
Well, it appears that 36.18% of eligible Seattle ballots have come in, but they are reportin 29.29% counted so far.[11] We thought that a Seattle technology executive would potentially poll higher among our geeky audience.[1] The results of the survey of 568 likely voters are within the polls margin of error - 4.1 percent.[9] If the race is as close as the KING poll suggests, we may not know the winner until much later in the week as later arriving ballots are tallied.[10] With less than half of the vote counted so far, the race is far from decided.[3] Supporters of the domestic partnerships law are hoping to keep the lead as votes continue to be counted.[14]
We're just going to wait to see the results." Both campaigns had dozens of volunteers working the phones to get out the vote until shortly before the first results were posted.[7]
SOURCES
1. Did the T-Mobile outage cost Joe Mallahan votes for mayor?
2. KPLU: Mallahan Optimistic (2009-11-04)
3. KPLU: McGinn Takes Slim Lead for Seattle Mayor (2009-11-03)
4. Local News | McGinn takes early lead in Seattle's mayor race | Seattle Times Newspaper
5. Race for mayor gets even tighter | KOMO News - Seattle, Washington | Local & Regional
6. Local News | McGinn takes early lead in Seattle's mayor race | Seattle Times Newspaper
7. Mayor's Race Results
8. Voters unpredictable in Seattle, New York mayoral races | Jeff Mapes on Politics - OregonLive.com
9. Poll: McGinn, Mallahan tied (UPDATE)
10. Politics Northwest | KING-TV poll: Seattle mayor's race a dead heat | Seattle Times Newspaper
11. McGinn still leads Mallahan, barely
12. Local News | McGinn's lead shrinks in Seattle mayor race | Seattle Times Newspaper
13. Local News | Tight Seattle mayor's contest won't be decided for days | Seattle Times Newspaper
14. Gap Closing In Mayor's Race, R-71 Inches Higher - Seattle News Story - KIRO Seattle
15. Local News | 2 newcomers vie to be Seattle's mayor | Seattle Times Newspaper
16. Mayor'''s race still close - The Daily of the University of Washington
17. Politics Northwest | Mallahan, McGinn both optimistic; McGinn's lead'stunning,' Mallahan says | Seattle Times Newspaper
18. Who's your new mayor? It's way, way too soon to tell | Seattle Metblogs
19. Mayoral candidate Mallahan tours West Seattle | West Seattle Herald / White Center News
20. West Seattle Blog » Election 2009: What Mike McGinn said at his 3rd WS "town hall"
21. Politics | Mallahan gains on McGinn in latest ballot count | Seattle Times Newspaper
22. McGinn leads Mallahan in Seattle mayor's race
23. Drinking With Politicians (And Is Dow Constantine Stepping Out on Mike McGinn?) - Seattle News - The Daily Weekly
24. Politics Northwest | King County: up to 115,000 more votes to be counted today | Seattle Times Newspaper
25. If McGinn Is Elected, a Mayoral Model to Follow? - Seattle News - The Daily Weekly
26. Seattle voters get it | Ballard News-Tribune
27. Mallahan, McGinn, and 21 Emails
28. TechFlash: Did T-Mobile outage hurt Mallahan?
29. Politics Northwest | UW professor: Mallahan lost lead as undecideds broke for McGinn | Seattle Times Newspaper
30. Politics Northwest | Which poll will win Seattle mayor's race? | Seattle Times Newspaper
31. UPDATE: McGinns lead narrows in mayoral race | Ballard News-Tribune
32. Election Day: Seattle mayor, gay rights measure top ballot
33. Election '09: Maybe THIS Time We'll Trigger That Mayoral Race Recount - Seattle News - The Daily Weekly
34. Constantine vs. Hutchison | Ethiopian News - EthioPlanet.com, Ethiopian Politics, Entertainment, Ethiopia
35. Poll says Seattle mayor's race now dead heat | Jeff Mapes on Politics - OregonLive.com
36. Election Night '09: At the Mallahan Party, an Unclear Picture - Seattle News - The Daily Weekly
37. West Seattle Blog » Election 2009: Mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan's West Seattle walk
38. Politics Northwest | Election night parties | Seattle Times Newspaper
39. Seattle Sketcher | Voters' impressions: The word on the street about today's elections | Seattle Times Newspaper
40. Local News - Seattle News - MyNorthwest.com
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