The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has endorsed incumbent Republican state Sen. Luke Esser over his (former Republican, now Democrat) challenger, Rep. Rodney Tom.

The P-I's reasoning is a bit tweaked, prefering the more conservative Republican out of fear that the nominal Democrat is liberal, but insufficiently liberal. But the P-I is correct in its conclusion, pointing out that Esser is a better legislator overall, and has won endorsements from a rare coalition of business groups, labor unions and environmentalists (he brings people together and crafts win-win solutions, go figure). Unfortunately, the P-I has discredited itself with so many loony endorsements that its endorsements don't have the authority the paper wishes they might. But for the P-I to endorse a Republican over a Democrat would have to mean that the Republican is exceptionally decent and the Democrat is exceptionally awful.