The King County Democrats nominating convention will be held this evening.
The most interesting contest appears to be that between incumbent County Councilmembers Bob Ferguson and Carolyn Edmonds, who were redistricted into the same district.
Ferguson and Edmonds will appear together on KUOW's Weekday today at 10am.
UPDATE: I was not quite correct about them appearing "together". They appeared sequentially. Ferguson wanted a debate, but Edmonds declined to debate him.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at June 28, 2005 09:48 AM | Email ThisIf I had to vote for one (gun to my head) it would be Ferguson.
He seems to have some sense of reality. Edmonds is almost as nuts as Patterson.
The only suitable candidate in this race appears to be Steven Pyeatt (R).
Posted by: Elvis is the King County on June 28, 2005 11:14 AMwww.corrupt-union.com
and read the depositions of Allan Darr and some of the conniving Democrat antics that labor bosses engage in. here lies the REAL problem.
Gee, it looks like Carolyn Edmonds wasn't ducking a debate afterall. Just didn't feel like having one of the Tom Stewart yes-men at KVI moderating it.
I seem to recall quite a bit of demagoguing went on in here about that not long ago.
Posted by: exile on June 28, 2005 12:42 PMThen, they will get into the male bashing, with Carolyn accusing Bob of not have enough compassion for "victims" of domestic violence. Then, they will accuse each other of being soft on wealth transfer from women to men in divorce. Of course, Carolyn will top all that off by accusing Bob of actually believing that fathers should have parental involvement with their children.
Of course, then will come the calls for more diversity (skin color only) and multi-culturalism. Carolyn will brag that she has been to Cancun and understands the international scene, while Bob will say that he once drove all the way to Canada and then negotiated a multi-cultural exchange so that white people from Canada can better understand white people in Washington, capping it off with, "Can' all just get along."
Joel Connelly will be so moved, that he will write a column about how it is impossible for a Seattle voter to decide between the two, and propose that an extra seat be created on the KC Council so that both of these amazing people can keep their job.
Posted by: BananaLand (aka Iguana) on June 28, 2005 12:48 PMFROM D RULES "We will actually have a more open process than the Republicans. The Democratic Party will be using our Precinct Committee Officers, which are elected by their neighbors every even-numbered year. The Republicans will be using the caucus style system, which is highly Party driven on the Republican side and limited in the number of people who are allowed to participate."
Posted by: barchester on June 28, 2005 02:45 PMI've never understood why....
Posted by: Michele on June 28, 2005 03:15 PM
Its not that difficult to understand why that is.
As of late steve has gotten some good endorsements.The most recent being the teamsters
union.He has the dems running scared.
So who is it the democrats fear the most?
The GOP establishment is actually hoping that Judge Thomas Zilly will issue some kind of restraining order mandating a party ballot primary (like we had in 2004), instead of the Top Two system that is provided under state law. That way, Dunn can challenge Hammond in a GOP primary and have a second bite of the apple.
They DON'T want to win the alternative relief, namely of the GOP being able to designate a single person with the right to file as a Republican in each race, while otherwise retaining the TOP TWO primary. If that happens, the GOP will be forced to accept Hammond as the nominee, and Dunn will only be able to run as an Independent (or possibly a Democrat).
I am curious whether the Dems will be fielding a full ticket this year. The GOP isn't. We didn't get anybody to run in District Four against Larry Phillips or District Eight against Dow Constantine.
The King County Dems website
http://www.kcdems.org/
doesn't have anyone listed in District Three against Kathy Lambert, District Six against Jane Hague, or District Nine against Steve Hammond. All that, of course, could change tonight.
The Dems do have a nice lady, Geni Hawkins, running against Pete von Reichbauer in District Seven. However, I doubt they will put too much into that race.
I had heard rumors that Laura Ruderman might be considering a challenge to Jane Hague in the 6th. Some Republican PCO's even distributed a flyer several months back, urging the party to find someone "better" than Hague, asserting that Ruderman would make a formidable opponent.
Evidently these were just rumors.
I imagine the Dems will come up with some sort of formal opposition for the four GOP incumbent districts. Whether the GOP will find someone to oppose in each of the five Dem incumbent districts is another story.
The GOP could actually have a chance in District One if our candidate were strong enough. If Bob Ferguson came in third in the primary, then Carolyn Edmonds might be vulnerable.
However, I predict that Ferguson will finish first in the primary, and will face off against either Edmonds or whoever the GOP candidate is.
It remains to be seen, of course, who will prevail between Edmonds and Ferguson at this so-called nominating convention tonight.
I am predicting that Edmonds will pull off a "win" against Ferguson. And then we will see what Ferguson puts on his candidacy form in a few weeks under party designation ...
Posted by: Richard Pope on June 28, 2005 04:54 PMKing County Council Member Julia Patterson Campaign Kickoff featuring Governor Christine Gregoire and a delicious East Indian Dinner Buffet.
Kent Senior Center, 600 East Smith, Kent
Nothing like the blind leading the blind! Patterson of all people! Do the R's have anyone running in that district????
Posted by: mimi on June 28, 2005 09:18 PMGregoire 41,720 or 58.84%
Rossi 27,553 or 38.86%
Bennett 1,518 or 2.14%
Write-In 105 or 0.15%
Total 70,896
Basically 59% Gregoire and 39% Rossi
I know District One took in 1/3 of Ferguson's old district. Maybe a little out of Phillips' district. But there are also some precincts in the east, I think from Lambert's district.
So I think it wouldn't be quite 65% to 35% Dem. Especially since north Seattle (i.e. the portion closer to Shoreline) wasn't quite as heavily pro-Gregoire as the rest of the city.
Any word on who the Dems' endorsed tonight? They should have that soon. Or do we have to wait until midnight, and see what the Times or P-I has to say about it.
Posted by: Richard Pope on June 28, 2005 10:08 PMWill Edmonds drop out of the race? Will she run as a Democrat anyway? Will she run as an Independent?
This has got to be bad news for Ron Sims. But can David Irons take any advantage of a lot of the Dem rank and file not particularly caring for Sims and his allies?
Posted by: Richard Pope on June 28, 2005 11:40 PMYour discussion of the alternatives regarding the Hammond race is interesting, but it would be helpful if you defined your terms. By the Republican establishment you mean whom exactly? I think the state party isn't that invested in the race and is focused on winning both parts of their case in court regardless of its impact on Reagan. Correct me if you believe this view is in error.
County party folks seem to be rallying around Hammond with caveat re: reverting to Montana. But there is, of course, an establishment within the establishment; people without positions but with enormous leverage. And I presume it is these folks to whom you are referring?
Most of the R grassroots seem pleased that Hammond won.
Barchester
Posted by: barchester on June 29, 2005 07:59 AM
I would submit to you that both those with
the enormous leverage in the county party
and the state party want reagan dunn.
When I say the state party I'm talking
about chris vance.He is desperately trying
to get back in jennifer dunn's good graces.
He thought this would do it.Once again he
was wrong.Look the king county gop leadership
have been out to get steve hammond since
reagan dunn came into the picture.
True they have endorsed hammond. but what
else were they going to do?What I find
interesting is I don't here the king gop
leadership telling dunn he should get out.
Believe me if the positions were reversed and dunn won and hammond decided to stay
in. I guarantee you the same people that
are silent now would be screeming bloody
murder about it and would demand hammond
get out.
The fact that hammond won took the king
gop leadership by surprise.They never thought
he had chance.Now they don't know what to do.