I wonder if Mike McGinn's promise to build the tunnel was just as sincere as Greg Nickels' promise to build the monorail.

The good people of King County elections would still love for you to cast your vote, and have made it pretty easy, and (lucky you) there is no one in line at the "accessible voting" location inside Union Street Station at 401 S. Jackson Street.

I got there this morning and had the help of a dozen election workers to myself. Walked into the station, found the room (to the right), filled out a brief form, showed my ID, got a magnetized card to plug into a machine, and was led to a touchscreen voting station where it took about three seconds to vote for Mike McGinn, Dow Constantine, no on I-1033, approve Ref-71, etc.—print out The Stranger's full endorsements and take it with you. Then I got to read a printout of my selections to make sure the machine got everything right. Then I pressed a button that said "Cast your ballot." While there, exactly two other people showed up to vote. One of them was another guy who'd lost his ballot. The other was Rusty Williams, who ran for city council this year but didn't make it through the primary, who walked into the polling place saying, "Where is everybody?" We're right here, one of the election workers said back. "No, no, the customers!" Williams said, laughing.

The election workers were so relaxed/friendly/unbusy I asked a tableful who they were voting for. "We're non-partisan," one of them said. She was doing a crossword puzzle. "Within these walls," she added.

Another chimed in, "We just want people to vote."

If your ballot's at home, just go to Union Station to do it. (If you're elsewhere in King County, you can also go to Bellevue City Hall or the elections office in Tukwila—there's a map here.) It's so easy. And it's going to be a close election. And you know how beautiful Union Station is, right?

It's open til 8 pm, though they expect it'll become a madhouse after 5 pm. GO!

Well, sing me a lullaby, Sweet Baby Jesus! Consider that barn BURNED! I could just hang my head and weep, that it's all over now…

Yes, my friends, that was it! The very last mayoral debate of this most mayorally debatey season! And my God, how I have adored them, these damn debates—all fourteen-trillion of them! They were like reality teevee, sans the slightest shred of reality—and featuring only two belligerent children! (And, um, sometimes even sans the teevee…this last one was radio-only, you know. Did McGinn steal Mallahan's suit-and-tie concept again? Who had the beard this time? How will we ever know? Goddamn it, radio! It really makes you feel for the blind…you know?)

And what a phenomenal showing from Mallahands it was! He was driving accountability all over the damn place! Also, efficiencies! (How you ever observed accountability and/or efficiencies so completely and totally driven? No. I thought not.)

But I must say: one deeply impressive characteristic of The Mallahan that he has ever-so-modestly, yet foolishly, kept under wraps this election is his SCARY PSYCHIC POWERS. Shhh… listen…

In the future, an officer will make a mistake and commit an offense against a citizen.

Whoa! SPOOKY! Is he a wizard? Got a Sybil in his pocket? Dionne Warwick on speed dial? Or is precognition merely a standard feature of his contract with the devil (plus a nice set of golf clubs and all the comely virgins he can swallow)? Well. Thanks for the futuristic warning, Mayor Fortune Cookie! And take heed, all ye officers of the alleged “law”! Be on your guard, easily offended “citizens”! Mistakes are lurking in your future, waiting to happen all over you! Joe Mallahan, human Ouija board, has spoken.

Peculiar and rather disturbing, however, that nary a single mention of those oh-so-supportive Africans raised its head during this final debate. What has happened to the legendarily unwavering loyalty of Africans—and their deep and very African Malla-love?

I guess Africans don't support him quite as vociferously as he once imagined, perhaps? So he's backing off bringing them up again? Capricious and rather two-faced, it seems there, you Africans. Or maybe he was just driving things like accountility (and effeciencies!) and moving forward—you know, keeping his mind on the road? Not being psychic myself (very often), I am simply unqualified to comment at this juncture.

On KUOW right now.

9:00 am: Steve Scher thanks listeners for letting him take vacation, and other staffers who covered for him, and says: "We jump back into the fray of things now—we talk to the two candidates for mayor... competing visions for Seattle..."

9:06 am: Scher: "Joe Mallahan, Mike McGinn. They wrap it up on Weekday... We're going to do it a little differently today, as I'm easing back into my job"—Steve, no one cares you were on vacation—"and let you introduce yourselves."

9:08 am: "I was born and raised in the pearl of the west coast, Everett." Scher: "I like that 'pearl of the west coast.' That's nice. Why do you want to be mayor?" Mallahan: "I want us to keep moving forward... We're very much at risk of moving backward." Scher: "So you're thinking is essentially stayed the same." Mallahan: "I think my thinking has grown. It's a big city, there are a lot of stakeholder groups."

9:09 am: McGinn starts by talking about himself as a father and family man, and someone who's spent a lot of time trying "to make this city a better place. The reason I'm running is because I believe we face really serious challenges, and we have people ready to face those challenges, as long as government is willing to work with them."

9:12 am: Mallahan is talking about how he wants to give everyone the opportunity to hold him accountable. Why is he allowed to keep saying this, considering he hasn't been accountable for his career at T-Mobile and hasn't let T-Mobile out of the non-disclosure agreement they struck when he took leave? That would be letting yourself be held accountable. (UPDATE: A friend points out that non-disclosure agreements almost always are to protect the employee from talking about the company, not the company from talking about the employee. Which kind of makes T-Mobile's unwillingness to talk about Mallahan even more suspect.)

9:13 am: Mallahan: "It's not lost on me that this event on Halloween night, the killing of this officer, puts us at great risk... The tension level among officers must be extraordinary... It's just raised the tension dramatically.

9:14 am: McGinn: "This is clearly an extraordinary tragedy. Police officers put themselves on the line for us... I think it's one of the reasons why the selection of a new police chief is so critical... Having a serious discussion about what are the qualities we're looking in a police chief," and about issues facing the police force, is critical. "Building trust between police and the community has to be a high priority."

9:17 am: Mallahan is saying he will be "present" to the police force if he's mayor. "I can't overemphasize being physically present... In the future, an officer will make a mistake and commit an offense against a citizen." Huh? "It's coming together and having a dialogue." Can anyone follow this answer?

Though he has positioned himself as the business candidate, it's not clear Joe Mallahan has succeeded all that well in business. (The BBB gave T-Mobile an F rating while Mallahan was "Vice President of Customer Delight.") And it's not clear that success in business would translate into success in office.

But enough from the candidates. What do people in Seattle's business community think about Mallahan and McGinn?

Jeffrey Taylor, insurance agent for State Farm for over 10 years. His office is in the Columbia City/Seward Park neighborhood:

I'm still making my decision. I haven't finished all my research yet. But I'm interested in mass transit—it helps my clients get to my business and helps them save money. I'm for extending light rail to the Eastside. A lot of my clients work there. Being from Chicago, I know that trains work. It makes for a smart city. I also want park-and-rides inside the city. It's a big issue for the Columbia City business district and not something Nickels supported.

Business experience can translate into political experience—if you have that elusive "it" and you're a good leader. But I'm not endorsing either candidate yet.

Frank Rizzo of Rizzo's French Dip in Ballard:

• That's Frank on the left.

I've been supporting McGinn for months. He seems like a down-to-earth gentleman, like he knows what he's talking about. He seems like a good man, not like he's in it for the money. He's not: "I'm gonna be the mayor and fuck all you guys." He wants to help the city and help the city's people—he's for the working man. He's not for the rich.

I've been putting McGinn stickers on all my sandwich bags, telling people: "Don't be a dope, make sure you vote!"

Bruce Herbert, chief executive and investment manager of Newground Social Investment on Queen Anne. (Herbert cut his teeth on Wall Street 26 years ago with Merrill Lynch, then opened his own shop. Newground has been around for 16 years.)

The fact that Joe has not voted is a deal-breaker. Would the FC Sounders hire a coach who has never played soccer? No wait—it's even worse than that. Would the FC Sounders hire a coach who not only has never played soccer, but has never watched it on TV? You start a political career by voting. Not by asking to be king of the hill without a record of past performance.

I also think Mike's new openness to the tunnel showed a degree of good judgment and humility—it's a good indicator. You have to deal with change.

Darryl Smith, realtor for Windermere in the Mt. Baker area for almost 15 years. He is also past president of the Rainier Chamber of Commerce, a South-Seattle business board, past chair of the Columbia City Revitalization Committee, board member of the Rainier Valley Community Development Fund, board chair of Great City, and a McGinn campaign volunteer.

Mr. Smith said many things about how McGinn would be good for business. A few excerpts:

Mike is in favor of keeping the head tax—that goes to fund fixes we need for sidewalks and transportation to make it easier for people to access business districts. It funds the stuff that makes business more accessible and it's only a few dollars a head. I know of no small business owners who have complained about—or even really notice—that head tax.

We opened a campaign office here in SE Seattle in King Plaza, in the heart of the Vietnamese and African business community. You need to put feet on the street all around the city to learn what the small business needs and challenges are. You have to go and listen to people—there is a lot of wisdom in those communities.

I honestly don't know what Mallahan offers. Michael came to the Rainier Valley Chamber of Commerce and Mallahan sent a surrogate. I hear from my friends on the Chamber that they felt bad for the surrogate. They had specific questions and all she could do was read from a prepared statement. She looked silly up there. It's too bad.

Tim Nuse, coordinator of the "Corporate Social Responsibility Team" at Starbucks and chair of the 34th district Democrats:

The business community is divided. It's interesting to see that executives are divided—but certain things are consistent. The head tax is a concern. For some businesses, the administrative costs to keep track of the data necessary to pay it appropriately is actually more money than the head tax itself. A lot of businesses want to contribute what they owe, but want to do it a more efficient way.

Another issue is transportation—major concerns there. But both candidates have areas that cause concern. For many retailers, specifically the food industry, packaging is an issue. The city is trying to do good things for the environment, but some of the choices they're making aren't better for the environment and are a burden on businesses.

I was in the room with Starbucks executives when they met with both candidates, but I'm not a spokesperson so I cannot comment on any details from that.

Len Davis, Pangeality Productions in the Rainier Valley:

Barack Obama was a lawyer without much business experience. Did that make him a less attractive candidate? No. I'm pretty excited McGinn has an opportunity to win this election and put Seattle on a different footing, to be a global leader.

Brian Allen, a technology consultant for green building and renewable energy, based in West Seattle. Before starting his own shop here, he worked in Latin America for Chiquita Banana and Morgan Stanley, helping with IT and infrastructure build-out.

Having come from a corporate background and having lived around the world, I look at Mallahan and see someone who wants to be the strongman—almost a caricature of the business guy who thinks he can manage city government like a company.

I fear what will happen with Mallahan. Think about transportation. I've been following the oil markets for years and production in the Middle East. And he's betting on cars and highways—that's a terrible idea. I'm not seeing creative, long-term thinking from Mallahan.

The head tax? That's $15 a head. Give me a break. And it goes to pedestrian stuff and bicycle stuff. You won't be saving much by nuking that tax, and you'll be doing some serious damage to the city.

McGinn is better at building an amazing team—and it's volunteer! Anybody can buy a decent team, but to build McGinn's team for free? Wow. As a manager, that inspires me. If McGinn gets in and Dow gets in and they see eye to eye, we might see some amazing changes in this city.

The most telling quote comes from Tim Nuse at Starbucks. He was in the room while Starbucks executives interviewed the candidates (individually) and says: "The business community is divided. It's interesting to see that executives are divided."

Business executives are supposed to be the Mallahan stronghold—but they're divided. Good news for McGinn.

The runner-up quote, from Len Davis: "Barack Obama was a lawyer without much business experience. Did that make him a less attractive candidate? No."

Joe Mallahan, the man who would be mayor, has publicly positioned himself as the business candidate and has leaned on his experience at T-Mobile HQ—working as the "Vice President of Customer Delight," among other things—as evidence that he can manage a city.

A few problems with that:

1) Both T-Mobile and Mallahan's campaign have been vague on what, exactly, Mallahan did at the cell phone company. Even a simple job description has been difficult to extract.

2) T-Mobile has an F rating from the Better Business Bureau. That rating is based on an equation that factors in the size of the company, how long the company has been around, how many complaints the company has racked up, how many of those complaints have gone unanswered, and how many of those complaints have been resolved. AT&T Wireless, for example, has a BBB rating of A+. (It is also accredited by the BBB—businesses with an A or B rating can apply for accreditation.)

When people criticized Mallahan for working at anti-union T-Mobile, he said: Hey, not my department, not my fault.

But when your department is customer satisfaction/delight and the BBB gives you an F... what then? The (non)answer from a campaign spokesperson:

Looks like they should have kept Joe in charge of customer delight!

That F rating, by the way, is based on 36 months of data—well within Mallahan's tenure as a high-ranking T-Mobile executive.

3) Mallahan's management experience hasn't been that extensive. Two sources at the Municipal League (who requested anonymity) said a representative from T-Mobile told them that Joe has never managed more than 40 people at the cell phone company. Campaign spokesperson Charla Neuman quasi-denied this:

His average size group that he manages usually varies between 20 and 40 people although he has managed as many as 500. Either way, vastly greater than the number of people Mike McGinn has managed throughout his lifetime.

McGinn laughed when he heard this quote "I'm managing more than 20 to 40 people right now on my campaign!" he said. "But the framing of the question is off. It's more about leadership style and ability to achieve."

McGinn rattled off his public and management experience—managing teams of lawyers in commercial litigation, the Sierra Club, Great City, the Parks Levy, the roads and transit battles—before going in for the kill:

Joe says "Mike's risky because he doesn't know how to manage." But he's never put forth any vision for the future. We've seen his leadership style. He's not available to the public, not available to the press, has no vision for the future, and insulates himself with paid advisers who represent people who stand to profit from cost overruns for the deep-bore tunnel.

Government is not a business, McGinn continued. "You can't fire the citizens you don't like," he said. "Citizens aren't customers either. But this is Joe's model: His funders are stockholders and he's planning to give them an excellent return on their investment with cost overruns on the tunnel."

So what do actual business owners think of the two candidates?

That post coming later today.