Seattle Mayor-elect Mike McGinn
Wow — that was quite fun run-up to the 2009 elections! First, in Seattle, Mayor Greg Nickels was knocked out in the Primary, that despite being the head of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and a two-term incumbent with a mighty war chest. But, then it came down to newcomers Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan. And the voters went with McGinn in a very close election that took days to decide until Mallahan conceded yesterday.
Read the wraps by Seattle PI here and the Seattle Times here and the Seattle Post Globe here and Publicola here and the Seattle Weekly here.
The Weekly’s Krist Novoselic reminds us that music venues like the Crocodile supported the trio of winners at an early fundraiser – Dow Constantine, Mike McGinn, and Pete Holmes – and that those kind of music events are now “must do” for politicians in Seattle.
The Seattle Times has a great timeline of events over at the McGinn camp on election eve at the WarRoom called ”How an Underdog named Mike McGinn took City Hall.”
“What happened next has become campaign lore among McGinn supporters.
“Partygoers set down their beers, accepted scripts, phone sheets and pay-as-you-go cellphones, and The War Room bar became an impromptu phone bank to contact voters who hadn’t yet mailed ballots.”
The Seattle Times Editorial Board writes that “Seattleites are naturally drawn to nonconformists” and that:
“One fact may have resonated more than others: McGinn’s campaign had limited professional staff and hundreds of volunteers. He was already showing he could conduct business without a lot of fuss and spending.”
The Seattle Stranger’s Dominic Holden has a different take – that the new power structure will reside in returning City Council President Richard Conlin. Holden writes that what Seattle needs is a strong leader:
“Fortunately, we now have such a hand: a veteran of grinding bureaucratic battles, a visionary, a man who can make law and attend a Sound Transit board meeting and threaten certain growth- management goons, all before lunch. People of Seattle, meet your new mayor. Meet Richard Conlin.”
Both Publicola and the PI share this take on the election results — that the political establishment and insiders are now on the outside looking in having backed the wrong horse.
Publicola writes in “Anybody who was Anybody is now Nobody” that at the McGinn victory party:
“The people who’ve been running this town for years—who lined up this time behind McGinn’s opponent, Joe Mallahan—were not to be seen.”
The PI writes in “Mallahan not the only loser; power structure defeated, too” that:
“That noise you heard Monday night in Seattle was the collective wailing of the city’s big shots as they came to grips with the fact that Mike McGinn will be the next mayor.
They are on the outside looking in. They backed the wrong guy.”
Pretty exciting election, all in all. We’ll report some more on the King County Executive race, Ref 71, and Initiative 1033 later.
The November 3rd elections are right around the corner here in Washington State. All of the ballots have been mailed out, so you should have gotten yours by now. Fill ‘em out and then either mail them in or drop them off at your local drop-off-box locations. For instance, a list of ballot drop box locations in King County are 
