The Biggest Losers

No contest, the biggest loss last night was for Stan Rumbaugh, the former Planned Parenthood board member who was asking voters to put him on the state Supreme Court. He lost with—about half the ballots in—an anemic 37 percent of the vote. More results from Secretary of State's office will be tallied throughout the week and announced each day at 4:30 p.m. But while we'd love to say that Rumbaugh (who the SECB found to be adorable last night) can pull through, the math is against him. Upon seeing the initial returns last night, Rumbaugh told the SECB, "Well, that's not very encouraging." This race won't proceed to the general—conservative tool and anti-gay bigot Jim Johnson wins another term on the bench.

So where did progressives, who were pushing hard for Rumbaugh, fall down? Some say it was picking a candidate with a background that turned off moderates (like all that abortiony stuff), others say that Johnson had the advantage of incumbency and the name recognition that comes with it, and others still argue that Johnson held newspaper endorsements and an internet history that simply appealed to voters surfing the web. We'll have a more detailed piece later today on the Rumbaugh loss.

As for the Tea-Party darling/man-in-tights Clint Didier, what is there to say? When the polls say you're going to get a lousy 10 percent in the primary for Senate and then, lo and behold, you get 10 percent in the primary—blaming it on an election conspiracy looks just plain crazy. But we brought home a moose head from the party (photo). Most striking decor: Signs that say, "Pork Patty," depicting incumbent Senator Patty Murray as a drooling sow in a hamburger:

Meanwhile, this means Republican Dino Rossi will challenge Democratic incumbent Patty Murray in the general election. This isn't news—we've all known this was the race for approximately 300 years—but now it's official. Currently, Murray has 46 percent of the vote compared to Rossi's 34 percent, but that lead will narrow. Once GOP fringe candidates like Didier and Paul Akers supporters gravitate to Rossi in the general (if they do roll Rossi's way), then the race gets much, much closer. Let the horse pig race begin.

The Walrus Penis in Justice Richard Sanders's house is also a big loser—because it's dead now. "There’s very few mammals that have a bone in their penis," the incumbent justice's girlfriend told the SECB while holding a Bud Light in the living room their GIANT house in Fremont. "Walruses are one of those animals." The anti-gay Sanders, who compares homosexuality to polygamy but keeps hard walrus cocks around in the living room, was in the lead last night and will face Charlie Wiggins in the general election.

Last, the Secretary of State's office's website crashed from a a flood of people checking the election results (who could have predicted?! on election night!!). “The servers that receive and display county election results are simply overwhelmed,” Shane Hamlin, assistant state elections director, said in a panicky statement released last night. “Our entire technical team is working with experts from Microsoft to identify a programming error and to make the necessary fixes.” The servers are now up and running.

The Biggest Winners

The biggest winner last night was Joe Fitzgibbon. Coming in just a hair behind Mike Heavey in the race to represent the 34th District, Fitzgibbon is in a strong position to win the general election. The demographic in the general will be much younger last night's primary, points out Thomas Goldstein, director of Washington Bus, which pushes youth voting and campaigned hard for Fitzgibbon. Plus, only half of the ballots for King County have been tallied—and late returns could sway to a younger demographic that prefers the progressive, 23-year-old Fitzgibbon. "My personal prediction is that by the end of the day today, Joe will be number one in that seat," Goldstein says. Ivan Weiss, former Democratic party chair of the 34th District, took the opportunity last night to slam Heavey, saying, "Heavey has no field. We have all the field. Heavey has nothing."

As for Heavey, he was cowering in a bunker, afraid to face the public. Meanwhile, challenger Marcee Stone, despite gathered a paltry 15 percent of the vote, told supporters at the Elliott Bay Brewery Pub that she isn't conceding. "The numbers aren't looking good right now, but we are not giving up," she said. Uh... okay.

Meanwhile, Joe McDermott (currently state senator for the 34th district and confirmed homosexual) looks assured a seat on the King County Council by next year. He took 59 percent of the vote while his closest challenger, Diana Toledo, had only 20 percent of the vote.

Republican Congressman Dave Reichert representing the state's 8th District also, we hate to say it, looks like a winner. He got 48 percent of the vote last night, compared to Democrat Suzan DelBene's 26 percent (who put on a happy face anyway). It was a crowded race with members of both parties, but Republican candidates (Reichert and two others) took 58 percent of the vote together. If that support coalesce around Reichert in the general (which seems likely) he's in a good position to win another term in the House.

Meanwhile, Ross Hunter, representing the 48th District, came out on top. As did a slew of Seattle legislators who drew no serious challengers. Election results for all statewide races are here, and King County results are here.

The Big Unknown

In the general election, Republicans may be in a strong position to grab a lot of swing districts in the state legislature. Of particular concern, places like suburban Seattle. In the 45th District, two-term incumbent and Democrat Roger Goodman is trailing his Republican opponent, as is Democrat Eric Oemig, who is running for the other representative seat in that district. Among political circles there's a fear that Democrats will have lose control of the state senate come January.