Congrats, Bill S!

Interesting school board results ...

The result in the Harrell/Velazquez race isn't that surprising for anyone who received the six different pieces of direct mail her campaign sent to my house. I like her, but the amount of mail she sent out seemed obscene. Of course, it apparently worked...

The School Board results are disappointing: Darlene should be leading, as should Maria. Of course, both suffer from third-place candidates that took a large percentage of the vote, and the dynamics change in the citywide general, especially for Darlene, who comes out of an all-white district to a much more diverse city where her focus on equity will play better.

Darlene actually seemed to do all right, given the anti-District frenzy the Seattle Times has managed to whip up. I'll reserve final judgment on Maria's race until 100% of the precincts have reported.

I got about three or four spams from Scully. judging from the address I got them at I think he bought an old moveon.org mailing list. maybe that's why he tanked.

Will in Seattle, I disagree - the school board results in district 2 are excellent!

Having watched Darlene up close for 3+ years (her demeanor with staff, legislators, fellow board members, constituents - insulting, condescending, eye-rolling, pontificating), I've come to believe it's more about her own ego than about kids, public education, or "equity".

She talks a good game, but it's just "beautiful rhetoric" as a former supporter of hers said well.

Lynn Varner got it right this time with Darlene.

Apologies, Will in Seattle - I didn't think that sounded like something you'd say. It's Tyler with whom I disagreed...

Those of us in the Bill Sherman camp were thrilled by last night's results. Bill is headed to an decisive win against a very strong and determined primary opponent in Keith Scully. Even more exciting -- and amazing: despite a serious primary contest (hat tip to Scully for running a substantive campaign) Bill is going to finish with more total votes than incumbent Republican Dan Satterberg, who was running unopposed. We knew Bill would do well, but he did better than we could have hoped. This bodes very well for the general election faceoff. Bill is proving that he is the real deal.

And yeah for parks!

By the way, does anybody know a good hangover remedy?

rational_monster @ 4:

I don't think turning a massive deficit into a massive surplus, bringing District test scores above state average, and retooling what had been a rubber-stamp board for the Superintendent counts as merely "beautiful rhetoric."

As for her tone, as someone who has been involved at the District level for several years now and seen the painfully (and deliberately) slow courses of action taken by District staff in responding to the policies and requests of the Board, I would not blame her for the occasional sharp exchange. I also know from having been involved that that's all it is: an occasional sharp exchange.

18 percent voter turnout. that's feeble. would love some stats on that one: average voter age, neighborhood breakdown, how long it's been since we've had such pathetic voter turnout for a city primary.

I tried to vote, but the mailman didn't take our ballots out of the mailbox, just jammed the new mail in on top of it. Next time I'll maybe leave a couple days' room for error.

YEAH!!!! The park items passed!!! YEAH!!!!

I'm just appalled that 4,000 people actually voted for Stan Lippmann - apparently that's what sheer name recognition will do.

So who the hell is Catherine Perkins, and how did she get 20% of the vote against Alec Fisken and the big-bucks Republican?

I love the fact that it turns out two-thirds of King County is Democratic. Too bad about the 33 percent deadenders tho.

#4: I'm going to have to agree with you. Darlene is smart and has many good qualities, but an elected official cannot maintain an openly condescending attitude and still receive support from constituents. She had the same attitude at the City when she world in the Neighborhoods dept., unfortunately. There's a way to be knowledgable without coming across as a know-it-all.

I think she had the Margaret Pageler problem where she came off as actively distainful of the public.

Is there any School Board candidate who doesn't pledge to "close the achievement gap"? Do they think that repeating the phrase over and over and over again means something?

Why so little Stranger gloating over Velasquez's big primary victory? Does anyone really think boring Bruce Harrell has what it takes to stage a major comeback?

Congratulations to Lauren Briel. For a young woman who jumped into the race late with most of the endorsements and money already tied up she did very well. She did not have a professional campaign consultant and only raised and spent about 10K (I think). Most people labeled her out of the game before it even got started. Considering all of that...she did pretty darn well!

Good work Lauren. You obviously resonated with some people and got some positive words from some of the insiders. Next time you decide to run start earlier lining up your support and putting your campaign together. And call Christian Sinderman and hire him because you do need an inside game to be taken seriously.

It may not be surprising but it IS disappointing that Jean Godden got through to the general -- I mean she really hasn't taken any initiative or demonstrated any leadership during her one term on the council but as someone else mentioned, maybe that's due to "name recognition". Both Joe Szwaja and Lauren Briel are great candidates who offer a lot of fresh ideas, energy, and leadership. I hope Seattle voters will look deeper than "name recognition" and consider the candidates' abilities and ideas before voting in the general.

It may not be surprising but it IS disappointing that Jean Godden got through to the general -- I mean she really hasn't taken any initiative or demonstrated any leadership during her one term on the council but as someone else mentioned, maybe that's due to "name recognition". Both Joe Szwaja and Lauren Briel are great candidates who offer a lot of fresh ideas, energy, and leadership. I hope Seattle voters will look deeper than "name recognition" and consider the candidates' abilities and ideas before voting in the general.

@19

Are you kidding?

There's a reason Joe Szwaja only got 20% of the vote. Lauren even less. I don't want a high school teacher who used to have a hobby of getting arrested or someone who has no civic experience whatsoever having any part of running my city. They do not belong on the Seattle City Council and the voters recognized this. Go Jean. Keep up the good work!

So, xiu xiu, aside from writing a once-a-week column for a daily metropolitan newspaper, what exactly again was Ms. Godden's political experience before running for City Council?

@21

well comte, i mentioned civic / community experience and involvement, which i think is crucial to being a credible candidate. and to see her civic involvement before writing for the paper (where she did things like editorialize against banks red-lining while also writing funny pieces that people enjoyed) you could have just browsed over to her website and checked her bio. but i'll give you the highlights of it .

"She worked with Citizens Against Freeways, Citizens Against R.H. Thompson, the activist board of the League of Women Voters, Mayor Wes Uhlman’s charter review committee, the Muni League’s candidate evaluation committee, the Lake City Community Club and the city’s Board of Adjustment."

add on 30 years of being an extremely well-respected journalist in Seattle (who actually wrote 4 columns a week, not 1) and you have an imminently qualified candidate. and though you may not like her for some reason, and i get the feeling you don't, i would hope that you would at least concede that she had, back in 2003, an impressive resume for someone seeking public office.

Have to agree with @17 - if Lauren doesn't make it past the primary, you'll be seeing her again.

Don't write off Joe Szwaja. Not only is Joe running an exciting race and raising a lot of important issues like corporate welfare and police accountability, but every time new returns come in, his numbers go up.

At the current 22%, they've already eclipsed Jean Godden's 2003 17.5% primary vote.

Half of Seattle voted against the incumbent last night and the number is growing.

Joe is not only more experienced as a community activist and city council member, but he's a progressive option far more in synch with Seattle's values than the incumbent (something that her donors like Paul Allen and other know well).

Want to fill the progressive gap left open by Peter Steinbrueck's departure? Elect Joe Szwaja!

I checked out the candidates and Joe Szwaja served 3 terms on the Madison Wisconsin City council so he does have experience -- in fact he has more experience than Jean. Also since he's been in Seattle he's been very involved in a variety of environmental, humanitarian, and social justice issues and even won a Human Rights award from the UN Association of Seattle. Sounds pretty good to me.

@ 24

Peter Steinbrueck has endorsed Jean Godden.

Ouch for the Szwaja camp!

But hey, 21%, enjoy it guys. That's only 30% away from winning!

@ 25

Aunt Lene -

Joe served 2 terms on the Madison City Council. He left during his third term. But.. a few things you, and other voters, should know...

1) Madison is divided into districts. Joe's district represented about 10,000 people (Seattle City Councilmembers represent 600,000). He won elections with vote totals of like 450 to 375. Seriously. More votes are cast in some PTA elections.

2) They are two-year terms.

3) Here's the kicker... IT'S A PART-TIME POSITION. They meet twice a month. It pays like $9,000 a year.

These are all facts you won't find Joe ever talking about or publicizing anywhere.

There is a reason he was more than happy to leave his part-time gig on the Madison City Council to move to Seattle.

But hey, whatever, if Joe floats your boat, that's great. Just know the whole story. Don't take his mailings / website / word, etc at face value.

An endorsement for Joe from Mike Gillis?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA! El beso de muerto!

Spin it however you like, but the 2003 percentages were as follows:

Jean Godden 17.65%
Robert Rosencrantz 17.50%
Kollin K. Min 16.92%
Judy Nicastro 25.16%

Funny, but Jean eeked out a .15% victory in the primary, and went on to win. But Joe's lead is more than 3% greater than the next challenger, but were suppose to think it's not great news? Jean didn't beat anyone by more than 1% in the primary. And Kolin Min and Rosencrantz were not good candidates like Lauren grew to be.

Now, Sally Clark with 65% is going to be hard to beat. But Jean just had 1/2 the 2/3rd democrat vote just vote against her.

Joe Szwaja already has Jean's first primary vote performance in 2003 clearly beat. And now that he's on an even footing (the only challenger), people will have a better chance to hear him speak.

If Jean had matched Sally Clark's performance last night, I'd sing a different tune. But the fact is that in the 2/3 Democratic pick a primary, 50% of those self-idenitfied Dems didn't vote for Jean.

So regardless of how the media wants to spin the story, a victory for Joe Szwaja is still a victory for the campaign to elect Joe Szwaja. On top of which the party on primary night was great! Two comedians, two musicians, a great short film, and a whole lotta people standing behind Joe for Seattle City Council.

@26

Well ya' can't really take your dismissal at face value either. The fact is you can still look at legislation that Joe helped to initiate and/or pass to get an idea of the things he might work toward as a Seattle City Councilmember. So you can see that Joe has a history of working for affordable housing and GLBT rights, so if those issues are important to you, Joe's probably a good bet.

But I'm not basing my opinion solely on his past council experience, it's really what Joe Szwaja has been doing in Seattle over the last 15 years that impresses me -- to summarize he's been working to help ordinary people like me, people in other parts of the world who face challenges I can hardly imagine, and to preserve the environment. This is not just rhetoric - there is a long history of community service.

So, yes, I do think Joe Szwaja would be an outstanding councilmember.

Tyler @ 7, I've heard Darlene too say she turned the deficit to a surplus, and am wondering how - the only authority/responsibility the board has is to vote on the budget (not even line item veto), and keep up with what the district is doing via the Finance Committee, which I don't think she was ever a member of - though I could be wrong. Was she?

It's actually the district staff who balanced the budget (as required by state law), generated the surplus, and came up with the strategies to do so, so technically it's to Raj Manhas's credit - who I don't think Darlene ever supported.

Of course the board gets to take credit for what occurred during its tenure, and I generally think the mainstream media tars them with much too broad a brush, but it's hard to see Darlene taking credit for work I don't think she did.

Thanks -

@28 - Technical Correction: City Council races are non-partisan, so everyone who voted could vote in this race, regardless of party affiliation.

Jean Godden got about 51 percent of the primary vote; Joe Szwaja got about 22 percent. Let's get real--Jean has a 29 point lead AND support from a majority of Seattle voters. Four more years for Ms. Godden.

Reality will be judged in November, not by bloggers on Slog. Jean is the incumbent and a well known councilperson... She should have done way better.

Correcting the correction @28, the pick-a-party primary exists regardless of the non-partisan races on the ballot, it has a big effect on people's voting patterns. You simply misconstrue the point I'm making. Oh well...

The majority of voters haven't even started paying attention yet, as primary voters are a small subset of very consistent voters. The fact that Jean didn't do as well as newbie Sally Clark is obviously saying something.

Jean Godden is just not a good fit for Seattle voters. And it's obvious even her own base is weak at best.

Spin it anyway you like it. But a win is a win, and the vitriol from Godden's campaign is purposeful and telling. It looks like it's going to be a very close way either way this fall.

Gentry, just stop with this ridiculousness. You sound like a spokesperson for the Mike Gravel campaign. "Well yea, we have no support... but we're going to win! You'll see!" We've already been down this road with Joe back in 2000. He was declaring how he was going to win right up until he got crushed on election night and garnered an amazing 19% of the vote. So I guess he is about on par for his usual electoral showings.

I know your managing his "campaign," but please don't treat people like they are idiots.

To address just some of your inanity:

In 2003, there were 7 people in the primary, Jean was an inexperienced politician who jumped into the race at the last minute and won a close race. The fact you failed to take away from the statistics you listed was that the incumbent, Nicastro, only got 25% of the vote! She was scandal plagued, and an incumbent only getting 25% of the primary vote spells doom. In contrast, Jean got 51% (with the number likely to continue to go up as more ballots are counted), and her nearest challenger, Joe, got 21%. That's 30 pts behind! Again, to contrast with 2003, because apparently you lack any analytical reasoning skills at all, Nicastro only finished 8% ahead of Jean in the primary.

So to clarify, in order for Joe to win, he will need to get every person who voted for Sondheim and Briel to vote for him, get 51% of the new voters in the general, and then get some of Godden's supporters to vote for him as well. And you think this race is competitive? SERIOUSLY?????

Briel is a proud Democrat, I don't think many of her supporters are going to support a Green party failure. Sondheim ran at Godden from the right, so you can kiss most of those voters goodbye, too. I don't even think I need to mention that Jean will do even better with voters who skipped the general. This was Joe's chance to get his base to come out big and impress people. And he put up a dud. 21%. Wow.

I hope Joe didn't quit his day job at Nova high school.

@Gentry - I didn't mean to misconstrue, I just wanted to clarify for the dear readers (if there are any left at this point of the comment thread), if they didn't know already. Do remember though, Republicans (and Greens... and "others") get to vote in the election, too, and do care who gets on the city council.

seriously? An incumbent pol who gets barely over 50% in the primary is not doing well. Joe may not win, but clearly Godden ain't resonating with folks that actually pay attention to and care about city politics. If Joe doesn't win, hopefully someone stronger will take her on next.

That said, this election round is a disaster. None of the incumbents is worthy of re-election. And with the exception of Joe, none of the challengers seem to have a clue.

An incumbent who takes 51 percent in a multiple candidate primary (four candidates) has just won a majority while outpolling three candidates' combined vote totals. According to Gnossos this is not impressive. So what? It simply means that Jean Godden will notch a final win in the 60-40 range. Politics is about winning and losing, folks. Jean's going to win and Joe's going to lose.

Those who say Joe's going to lose certainly spend an awful lot of time saying it. Makes me wonder if these anonymous posters all have the same IP address? Anyone at the Stranger care to find out?

Confidence is not something that you brag about, it's just something you are or are not. Jean Godden's political operatives (operative?) spend a lot of time acting confident, but their actions speak a whole lot louder than their words.

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