The question has to be asked, given that the group, widely believed to be one of the most powerful Democratic organizations in the city, put its clout behind state house candidate Marcee Stone in the recently finished primary—and watched her come in dead last, with only 14 percent of the vote (compared to 35 percent for Joe Fitzgibbon and 33 percent for Mike Heavey, both of whom now advance to the general).

Tim Nuse, chair of the 34th District Dems, tells me: "I think our endorsement does matter. I think if you look at the primary results, you see that Democrats gained more than 80 percent of the primary vote, which is better than we often do in general elections—presidential elections. What we saw was a lot of external influence on the race.”

But if external actors—Nuse cited FUSE, Washington Bus, and labor PACs—are more influential in West Seattle than the supposedly mighty 34th District Dems, well, what's happened?

“I’ll be honest," Nuse says. "There were efforts underway by members who didn’t like the decision of the district—efforts to undermine the strength of the organization."

That's definitely a more interesting explanation than blaming outside forces: A group of disgruntled 34th District board members and PCOs, apparently unhappy with the body's endorsement of Stone, set about trying to sabotage their own board's influence.

"We are as effective as we are organized," Nuse says. "And when folks are purposefully trying to create rifts, or not distributing information for the endorsed candidates of the district, we start to lose our impact. Unfortunately, we had a few individuals who thought their judgment was better than that of the district, and they did try to undermine the strength of the organization by creating whisper campaigns to create divides in the district… and in general by not doing their jobs.”

Meaning, not passing out the 34th Dems' election cheat sheet and "misplacing" literature that supported Stone.

When it originally went down, the 34th's primary endorsement vote in favor of Stone's candidacy "wasn't close," Nuse says. She pulled 64 percent. (Heavey, sensing he wasn't likely to win, pulled out at the last minute, leaving the 34th Dems to choose between just Stone and Fitzgibbon.)

But then a rump of Fitzgibbon supporters made their displeasure known through, essentially, covert action—and inaction.

“We’ve got a lot of varying opinions," Nuse says. "And some people who contribute positively and some people who contribute negatively."

On Sept. 8, the 34th Dems will be deciding who gets their endorsement for the general. Who's going to win this time around?

“Joe Fitzgibbon is a PCO and so I think there’s more familiarity with him in our membership," Nuse says. "Although Mike Heavey has worked over the years on campaigns for Dow Constantine and has made himself more familiar throughout the primary campaign. So I think it’s going to come down to who makes the most contacts and who gets their supporters out to the meeting.”

Whatever the result, Nuse, says, "we’re going to be working our tails off" to make sure the endorsement comes with a tangible benefit.

Does he expect any more clout-diluting trouble from dissidents? "You’re never going to make everyone happy, especially in a district like the 34th," Nuse says.