Politics The War is Still Over
Exactly a month after Sen. Maria Cantwell absorbed anti-war candidate Mark Wilson into her campaign—the wisdom of that ploy, initially seen by some as a sloppy gaffe, has been made plain. In fact, in my endless “The War is Over” posts and posts before the Wilson hire, I kept arguing that the war issue was overblown and was actually diminishing in the Cantwell race. And so, I saw the Wilson hire as the final chapter, rather than the initial attempt, to get control of war dissent.
Last night may have been the epilogue. Seattle’s 36th District Democrats—a famously dissident voice as of late—changed course and came out as full-fledged pragmatists. The testy anti-war 36th (Ballard, Denny Regrade, Magnolia, Queen Anne) had endorsed Al Runte for mayor last year, stuck by the monorail—God Bless them—and most of all, had been one of Sen. Maria Cantwell’s harshest critics.
However, last night, after the board failed to make any endorsement recommendation, the membership itself voted to endorse Cantwell. Since there wasn’t a recommendation from the board, Cantwell needed a 2/3 vote, or 67%, to get the endorsement. (If the board had given her the nod, she would have only needed 50-plus-1.) Cantwell got 72%.
*On a related note of common sense, the membership also held its nose at Supreme Court Justice Gerry Alexander’s DOMA vote, and gave him the nod—he only needed the simple majority—over right-wing property rights guy John Groen.
Interesting that Maria got less support from the 36th Dems than from the 43rd Dems - she had a lot higher support in her Endorsement vote (wasn't it something like 82 or 92 percent?) than the 72 percent she got there.
Same-gender marriage isn't as much of an issue at the 36th, so I'm not suprised Justice Gerry Alexander was endorsed by them, as they probably don't regard it as that important.