Over 200 people showed up at The Hub (a work share space in Pioneer Square) last night to throw $10 at Seattle City Council Member Mike O'Brien's quest for re-election, bringing O'Brien's total contributors to around 250, a healthy start on his goal of having 1,000 people pledge $10 by April 1 the end of April. But the real winners of the evening were the deviled eggs. Take a look:

I declare you delicious!
  • I own this
  • I declare you delicious!

Some kitchen snobs overlook the artistry of a deviled egg; they claim that it's a fool-proof dish when, in fact, it is they who are the fools. (Boil your eggs too long and they rubberize like Michelin tires. Devil them too early and they crust like stale snow. And don't even get me started on seasonings!)

Oh, there were other delicious snacks: Some hummuses (hummooses? hummusi???), a kimchi-and-goat-cheese spread called "Kimcheese," and Swedish meatballs in a delicate bbq sauce (which I'd bet two chins were from Costco, but nevertheless, tasty), stewing in a homey crockpot. To drink, we were offered fine boxed wines, microbrews, and pink lemonade, but I'm not much of a drinker. (I usually just bring my own can of paint to politely huff in the corner.)

Exhibit B
  • I own this, cont'd
  • Exhibit B
The Hub was packed with a Who's Who of Seattle-progressives-you-most-likely-couldn't-pick-out-of-a-lineup, among them, Tim Harris, Craig Benjamin, half the mayor's staff, the mayor's wife, Tim Burgess, and Bobby Forch. But it was also a younger crowd, a hipper crowd, a lady-filled and slightly-less-white crowd than these events usually attract. Near the cheese dip, I eavesdropped on people in earth tones talking about street art, Venezuela, "new bike technology," recycling, portraits of street children comprised entirely of sugar, and how Seattle politics needs to engage more women, young people, and people of color*—which turned out to be a theme of the evening.


*As discussed by two 40-something white men who, when Mike O'Brien later asked for a show of hands of all the people in the room who were considering a run for office, both raised their hands. Le sigh.

In introducing O'Brien and his grassroots fundraising tactic to supporters, Kristina Logsdon, a director at the minority political nonprofit, the Win/Win Network, spoke to the difficulties of finding viable minority candidates to run for office. “I can’t tell you the number of times I've found an amazing potential candidate," she said. "First they got excited and then they got turned off by the sheer amount of money they’d need to raise in order to win."

O'Brien also stressed this point in his own short speech: "I think the reality that we want, the reality of people overcoming money, is becoming less and less of a reality," he said. "When campaigns are about raising big dollars, people without big dollars don’t have a voice. Who's left out are communities of color, low income communities, immigrants and refugees."

He added: "Our community is stronger when everyone has a voice."

I'll admit: I threw up in my mouth a little when he said that. But I don't blame O'Brien's painfully sincere, bullshit-proof brand of optimism; I blame those delicious goddamn eggs and all the paint huffing. Sometimes I have problems setting boundaries.