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Wednesday, August 12, 2009

City Nickels Gets Vicious

Posted by Dominic Holden on Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 1:38 PM

The most recent poll for the mayor's race shows Mayor Greg Nickels is seriously in trouble. Joe Mallahan has jumped eight points in three weeks, putting him only three points behind the heels of Nickels. But Nickels is trying to slow his trajectory, apparently—running this online only attack ad that pulls no punches, ear bites, or kicks to the groin:

It's hard to guess what effect this will have. Voters know as little about Mallahan as Mallahan knows about the city, so this could tarnish his sterling business credentials. But it could look bad for Nickels, who comes off as a bullying prick. And isn't that that bullying reputation part of the reason Nickels's poll numbers are so low?

UPDATE: Nickels campaign spokesman Sandeep Kaushik calls to say "calling the ad 'vicious' is overstating it." He says, "What we are going after is obvious lack of knowledge about issues facing Seattle. Joe Mallahan has had close to a free ride and limited media scrutiny, and he has largely self-funded his campaign."

For the record, Sandeep, I meant vicious as a compliment. And Mallahan has received some media scrutiny from us. When Mallahan came into The Stranger offices for an endorsement interview, we went straight for the jugular by asking if he's done anything for the environment. Mallahan answered with the stunning news that he, uh, went fishing in the tides as a kid. "My mom and dad used to plan our vacations around the tides. And that's so that they could feed their nine children from the bounty of the Puget Sound," he said. In other words, Mallahan's service to the environment is that he ate some of it.

Comments (17) RSS

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I thought his numbers were low due to pandering to developers while fucking ordinary people. I look to the SLUT as an example.

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on August 12, 2009 at 1:42 PM

I like Mike.

Quite frankly, Greg should have taken a job in DC while he could.

His support, at best, is very thin, and even if it gets him through the primaries, I doubt he'd win the general.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on August 12, 2009 at 1:48 PM

Nickels points are right on in this ad. Despite that fact, the only person this benefits is McGinn because it makes both Nickels (for going nuclear negative) and Mallahan (for being completely unqualified) look terrible.

Posted by CMB on August 12, 2009 at 1:48 PM

This is almost as bad as the guy who was Mayor for eight years and had no idea how the Department of Transportation was run.

Posted by Zander on August 12, 2009 at 1:54 PM

...but Greg knows Jake, the son who stole $90,000 from the Nooksack Indian Tribe.

Posted by DOUG.

on August 12, 2009 at 2:12 PM

I like the underlying concept (similar to Constantine's attack highlighting Hutchinson's conservative values in the county exec race), but the overall attitude of the ad needs some major work. It comes off as being far too petulant, especially the way the last sentence stresses the 'k' in 'Jack', like he's spitting on the ground as he says it.

Also, what bozo thought the 'don't know jack' cliche was appropriate for this? It just leaves me wondering which candidate named Jack this ad is meant to support. Perhaps "Joe don't know Seattle", instead?

Posted by sevenless on August 12, 2009 at 2:30 PM

Greg don't know Jack. Team Nickels should think before they use 36th District video in their ad: the 36th District endorsed Mallahan.

Posted by I'm Jack on August 12, 2009 at 2:39 PM

If our next mayor don't know Jack, I'm gonna blame Greg.

Posted by RonK, Seattle on August 12, 2009 at 2:48 PM

What an amazingly uninformative and negative ad from somebody who has been our mayor for 8 years. No wonder Nickels has trouble working with people. McGinn is definitely the best choice right now, I think. He's all about the neighborhoods but doesn't lose sight of the bigger plan for Seattle.

Posted by Aaron Pickus

on August 12, 2009 at 2:51 PM

I wouldn't call this vicious. It's pretty standard stuff, really. Vicious would be red-baiting, racist stuff, dragging in someone's family. That kind of thing. This is just normal finger pointing. Nothing remarkable about the ads.

Posted by SouthSeattle on August 12, 2009 at 2:52 PM

Ahh, SouthSeattle, but what you've just described *is* vicious by Seattle standards.

Posted by rlv on August 12, 2009 at 3:27 PM

Good ad, has me rethinking my vote.

McGinn would be a much easier vote if he would suck it up and acknowledge the tunnel fight is over and move onto other things.

Posted by seandr on August 12, 2009 at 3:50 PM

Wow Dominic, I'm surprised you didn't somehow find a way to blame Nickels for Mallahan's ignorance.

Posted by crazycatguy on August 12, 2009 at 4:13 PM

Don't be surprised when we get another Nickels term. Hopes and dreams of the surface option folks aside, there's really no compelling credible competitor.

Posted by Westside forever on August 12, 2009 at 4:31 PM

I fully support McGinn, but could live with Nickels.

Mallahan on the other hand would be an utter disaster -- I think the ad does a good job of pointing out the mess we'd have on our hands if Mallahan becomes mayor. To that extent, it's effective. A thirty second version that's not quite so vituperative might make a good TV spot.

Posted by lkjh on August 12, 2009 at 4:41 PM

Dominic, you are one clueless pile of shit.

Posted by Of course, I mean clueless pile of shit as a 'compliment' on August 12, 2009 at 5:46 PM

I think it's a great ad. But I'm still not voting for Nickels.

Posted by I Got Nuthin' on August 12, 2009 at 6:42 PM