One change to report today: incumbent Republican John Ahern actually lost a slight bit of ground today in the 6th LD, a reversal from previous ballot counting trends, leaving him with a 49.95% - 50.05% deficit (or 63 votes).
Big picture: if Ahern remains behind, that leaves a +2 pick-up for House Republicans based on latest trends. Kevin Parker in the 6th LD and Jan Angel in the 26th LD are definite pick-ups. Jim Dunn's old seat in the 17th LD was lost. Challenger Mike Hope in the 44th LD and quasi-incumbent Norma Smith in the 10th LD may have to deal with recounts before their current leads can be declared victories as well - plus Hope will have to hang on to his narrow lead in Wednesday's important tally from Snohomish County.
Finally on the House side, Steve Litzow continues to close the gap in the 41st LD (he was behind by almost eight points on Election Night), but I continue to fear he'll end up just short.
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans have definitely picked-up a seat based on challenger Randi Becker's growing margin in the 2nd LD.
UPDATE: apologies for the fumble, but "friar" is correct. If Ahern loses that would be only a +1 pick-up. And a "quasi-incumbent" is a short-hand way to describe an incumbent who was appointed, not elected to the seat they occupy.
Posted by Eric Earling at November 10, 2008 06:28 PM | Email ThisThe other seat in 6th was a pickup. Kudos to Rep-Elect Kevin Parker. Don't write Ahern off just yet.
Mike
Posted by: Mike on November 10, 2008 09:10 PMDon't have time 2 do the research, but wonder how many if any other states had same overall outcome in their Legislative races; i.e.:
(R)s gain at least one in both houses (or one house, in the case of NE, IIRC). Bet it ain't many other states....
Marcie Maxwell, is clueless on every issue, she claims to be an expert in education but sits on the board of one of the worst ran districts in our state. She has no ideas but does have name ID. She is a Realtor who loves to place her face all over her listings and does a large amount of advertising (usually a large spread in the Renton Reporter) with 3/4 of it about her and rest about her listings.
Posted by: jk on November 10, 2008 09:54 PMAnd to do it this year is particularly meaningful.
However, when you're down as many seats as the GOP is, it becomes easier to pick up seats than it used to be ...
I love it that the Rs picked up seats in a Democrat election.
Posted by: swatter on November 11, 2008 08:07 AMAlso, the seats where the GOP picked off some Democrats were all in swing districts, not traditionally GOP districts where it's "easier to pick up seats." We actually lost the 17th, which has traditionally been a GOP seat. We had a terrible candidate in that race, thanks to the meddling of a State Senator in that district. (and the 17th is not the only district where a State Senator interfered and hurt their district)
The 26th now has Republican Jan Angel, but the other two legislators are Democrat. The 25th now has Republican Bruce Dammeier, but the other two legislators are Democrat. If Hope pulls it out, the 44th will have Republican Mike Hope, but the other two legislators are Democrat. Republican Kevin Parker will be the only Republican in the 6th District, unless Ahern can turn things around.
So it's been an uphill battle, but it all started with recruiting top-notch candidates and simply out-working and out-maneuvering the Democrat opponent in each race.
It does give Washington Republicans a little hope that, with good candidates and superior tactics, we can pick up seats. In 2010 we should be able to pick up even more.
Posted by: Chad Minnick on November 11, 2008 12:13 PMI visited both the the WSRP website and the Snohomish County website yesterday and saw that neither had been updated after the election. It was depressing to see the pre-election optimism and discouraging to realize that the party leaders are not that on the ball.
Especially in Washington, with so many people working in the high tech industry, it is pretty unacceptable to have a website that isn't updated regularly. If you're going to have a website - and I think we can all agree that it is pretty mandatory - it needs to be updated on a regular basis!
The latest headline on the WSRP site is dated 10/21! Why not something about how we managed to pick up a seat in the State House in a Democrat tidal wave year? Looking back through the headlines, the vast majority are anti-Gregoire; in the run up to the election, you would have thought some pro-Rossi articles would have been a good idea.
On the Media Center page, there are three videos (I assume commercials that were run during the election season) and two pictures of Michael Steele's visit to Seattle. Yeah. That's hot. I'm sure the media were all over those. Why not some talking points outlining Republican positions? Something short and punchy that could be downloaded and dropped into a news article?
I'm sorry, I'm rambling, I know. But I'm really steamed. Just because we're in the minority it doesn't mean we have to operate like we've given up. The stakes are too high.
If we want to hang onto that "glimmer" of hope, we need to use every means available in the most effective manner possible to get our message out; that includes the internet. Now is the time to take advantage of voter anger over the outcome of the election and harness it for future action. We should have started November 5th but it's never too late.
Posted by: Paula on November 12, 2008 02:20 PMI completely agree, the D's have a HUGE advantage over R's in this state as far as technology and organization. I ran for and became a PCO this year, I never received a single piece of mail, a phone call or an email from the WSRP or my local district leadership. I had to find out what streets were in my precinct by going to the Democratic website. The democrats, on the other had, had formal PCO training,a top notch website, constant email, bi-weekly meetings not to mention there far superior voter ID and get out the vote efforts. I know this because my next door neighbor is the democratic PCO for my district.
The biggest tragedy of all is that the WSRP has completely failed to capture all the enthusiasm that existed for Rossi by keeping those voters engaged and motivated for 2010 and beyond.
Sad, very sad.
Posted by: jake on November 13, 2008 03:27 PMI e-mailed the WSRP and the Snohomish County Republicans on Tuesday, 11/11. I haven't heard back from either. Neither website has been updated.
If there were a viable alternative to the Republicans, I would be all over them at this point. Losing doesn't make you a loser but not even trying does. I hate being associated with losers.
Posted by: Paula on November 13, 2008 07:08 PM