Politics Boy Wonder
posted by on July 9 at 11:12 AM
There’s a bit of a buzz about former Stranger political writer Sandeep Kaushik.
Although, Kaushik was hired away from us in summer 2005 to revitalize County Executive Ron Sims’s office (which he seems to have done…have you noticed how bad ass Sims has been in the last year), Kaushik seems to be successfully transitioning into an up and coming political consultant.
After trouncing the Seattle Times-backed estate tax repeal as the spokesperson for the anti-920 campaign in 2006 and then knocking down the viaduct rebuild as part of the No and Hell No effort earlier this year, Kaushik may land a gig consulting in one of the top-10 U.S. Congressional races for campaign 2008.
Kaushik showed up as spokesperson for Darcy Burner over on Postman’s blog this morning, and Kaushik tells me while he hasn’t formally singed on with the Democratic hopeful in her do over to beat Republican Dave Reichert, he is in discussions with Burner.
I’m a Rodney Tom fan myself (and wasn’t so impressed with Burner last time out), but with Kaushik, Reichert’s gonna need more than his great hair cut to pull this one out.
Says Kaushik: “Darcy’s gone from zero to 60 in the blink of an eye. With $200K raised and $185K in the bank, she’s already 9 months ahead of where she was last time. She came achingly close to beating Reichert last time and this time she’s going to finish the job.”
She lost by 7,500 votes out of more than 250,000 cast. With 2008 being a presidential year and one where the Dems are psyched to boot, Reichert, who voted for the surge, does face a stiff challenge.
Um, $200? Is that a typo?
Ah.
I was never impressed with Darcy in the first place along with the fact she is a demonstrative loser in a campaign. Why should the Democrats think of nominating her again?
Josh,
Looks like you'll be a reliable conduit for whatever Sandeep shovels your way.
Ask for a placement fee!
@4,
I do love me some Sandeep.
I think Burner's pretty impressive myself. I have a friend who's 64, and voted GOP every year til 2004, and after meeting Burner, was really anxious to hold a fundraiser in her own home. That and her narrow loss said to me that she just needed to get out among the people more.
She's running AGAIN?
Don't Democrats ever learn?
Who is this Darcy Burner, of whom you speak?
Darcy Burner tried, and failed. Next!
She gave it a good shot. But seriously, it wasn't good enough. Sheriff Dave shouldn't have been that hard to beat. He's got name recognition, but that's about it. He clearly isn't the brightest bulb in the box. He's got no respect or seniority in his own party, and has no significant legislative accomplishments of any kind. Democrats were taking over everywhere else in the country. His district is trending less conservative, and it is no longer a safe "R" seat. He should have been beatable, and Burner didn't manage it.
What makes anyone think she'll do any better next time? I'd like to see this district change hands, but I think the Democrats need to find a better candidate to do the job.
Lots of candidates win on their second runs for Congress. Several of the Democratic House victors in 2006 first ran in '04.
A couple of points in Burner's favor: she doesn't have to start with 0% name recognition this time around, and '08 promises to be at least as good a Democratic year as '06.
And, the R's won't have the millions in soft money to dump into defending the 8th, given that they a) have ~21 Senate seats to defend nationwide, and b) have a couple of dozen House races in which they are now trying to unseat D's.
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