1) Wow. What is Mike “No waterfront tunnel” McGinn thinking? Yesterday afternoon, he announced that he will “uphold” the tunnel deal.
I called him to ask what his political calculus was, but (despite our lovely McGinn endorsement) he never called back.
Here’s what I think he’s thinking: He wants to be mayor.
The polls don’t look good. (I’ve heard rumors that some polling has him down 12 points. A PubliCola poll from last week had him down six—36 to 30 with 33 percent undecided). I guess he realized his anti-tunnel zealotry was costing him more votes (undecideds and green liberals who would otherwise vote for him) than it was picking up for him. He’d hit a ceiling. His numbers weren’t moving. (I wrote about McGinn’s need to move beyond his anti-tunnel base in the analysis of our poll.)
So, he rolled the dice, thinking he won’t lose his anti-tunnel base (that’s where the “I will, however, continue to ask tough questions” comes in), while he could gain enough undecideds and soft Mallahan supporters to win.
Not a bad play. Most of Mallahan’s support is soft. From Gov. Gregoire’s “Mallahan” endorsement to the establishment money that’s been going Mallahan’s way—Mallahan’s lead is really more anti-McGinn than pro-Mallahan. McGinn’s announcement is an attempt to woo those people to his camp. “It’s safe to vote for me.”
The added message: “I’ve listened to you. I’m not the intransigent dick you think I am.”
(I imagine he cut a deal on this too, with a couple of big name endorsements to come. State Sen. Ed Murray?)
Will it work? Maybe.
Here’s why it could fail, though. McGinn’s got to start all over with some crafty messaging. It’d be one thing if he had tons of money (he doesn’t), and he didn’t have a rich opponent who’s bought up TV time of his own. (Mallahan, who has raised over $500,000, is $95,000 in the red—meaning, there are some big Mallahan TV buys out there.) Mallahan will be able to scramble McGinn’s new concilatory message with “flip flopper” attack ads.
Ultimately, I think a ton of people want to vote for McGinn, but they can’t get past his anti-tunnel thing. McGinn had to make this move.
Only time—and money—will tell if it pays off.
2) Wow. Our Tom Carr endorsement made headlines over at the PI.com, got derided by PubliCola’s readers, and even pissed off Cola writers and staffers.
Read our apparently controversial Carr endorsement (Carr is a leader on alternatives to incarceration, a leader on combating domestic violence, and he’s a leader on better legal protections for city bicyclists) here.
3) Wow. Erica—usually not in the office until around 10—got up by 6am today. She was scheduled to be on the journalist panel at this morning’s—7:30 am!—Downtown Seattle Association city council candidates’ debate at the Central Library.
We’ll get a report on the debate later today.
4) Wow. Four Seattle hip hop acts are on the bill in New York City this week at the yearly high-profile CMJ music fest for up-and-coming bands.
Seattle music writer Jonathan Cunningham interviewed all four bands for PubliCola—D. Black, Grynch, Champagne Champagne, and THEESatisfaction (last seen upsetting VERA)—asking about their expectations for the potentially make or break gig.
We’ll post his report later today.
5) Wow. Okay, this has nothing to do with Seattle, but have you read Sunday’s NYT yet? Part 1 of David Rohde’s feature about being kidnapped by the Taliban? The zeitgeist piece on Portland’s lefty Rep. Earl Blumenauer and his frustrations with President Obama? These are exceptional news articles.
And man, The New York Times Magazine—with this week’s feature on Gen. McChrystal in Afghanistan and the article on music decoding—has totally replaced the New Yorker as America’s best weekly magazine.
For an era when newspapers are supposedly dead. I’m like, night of the living dead, baby.
(The New York Times Book Review was great this Sunday too. The review of the Thelonious Monk book was a pleasure to read.)
This morning’s Morning Fizz brought to you by Fuse:
Wow.
No The Physics or Blue Scholars at CMJ? That’s unfortunate.
Congrats to D. Black & Grynch, they seem like cool dudes, and I think it is cool D.Black got some added local exposure from that King 5 story.
As for McGinn, I understand the politics behind finally realizing at Mayor you are elected to uphold certain things (and realizing your signature issue is losing you votes) but I also think the fact that he didn’t realize all of his restrictions as Mayor before makes me think he isn’t a pragmatic thinker, and wouldn’t make a good Mayor.
Plus, what other stances will he back off from?
I am voting for McGinn because it is an anti-Mallahan vote.
Me, I’m having a big laugh at how McGinn threw all his density bicycle woonerf urbanist cult crazies under the bus. Or was it the light rail or the trolley he threw them under?
He’s not fit to be mayor, and neither is Mallahan. But Mallahan at least realizes that if you’re going to sit in that chair, you have to deal. Only zealots don’t think they have to deal. Voters always tire of zealots in the long run.
He has other stances?
This has been coming for a while. The agenda for city council sub-committee meeting had started heading this direction since late May, or early June. In fact, he could have testified against the tunnel e couple times, but it is likely best to not draw attention to your #1 issue becoming a moot point a month away from the election.
If he was going to moderate his stance on the tunnel, he probably would have been better off doing it more than 15 days before the election, although given who he is running against, it could still work. I guess all those undecideds were just too tempting, but coming now it has an air of desperation.
Kudos for not editing out Ivan’s comment about his supporters getting thrown under the light rail — STB edited out my comment over there that was practically identical. Either that joke was too easy to make or someone owes me a dinner!
May 5, 2009
Transportation Sub-committee
Chair: Jan Drago
item#6 CB 116514
Authorizing 3 memorandum for the AWV
http://tinyurl.com/yks7van
To assume, or pretend, that the council would ne act ASAP on the AWV approval from the State is foolishness. For McGinn to lead so many people on, and then throw them overboard now is upsetting.
I was a proponent of the surface option… a year ago, before the decision was made. The state agreed to participate in one of the options. The council has been working on this for a few months. It has been pretty clear that this really was a done deal.
Will the financing fall apart? Maybe, but to pretend that he could stop this before he could take office is nuts.
As a matter of style, I hope this signals McGinn might drop the certitude from here on.
I’m not shocked these two midlife-crisis cases aimed for the top job straight out of the gate, but for either to cloak his ambition in righteousness is beyond the pale.
Past the textured yellow strip, if you will.
Why did Nick Licata abstain from the MOA vote 2 weeks ago, but voted for the proposal yesterday?
What changed, did they find funding for the Promanade?
Council Bill 116668 PASSED (9 – 0)
Relating to the SR 99 Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement Program; stating the City’s policy with respect to an alternative for replacing the present Viaduct and Seawall, and related work; and authorizing execution of a Memorandum of Agreement between the State of Washington and the City of Seattle.
HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!
This is the most ludicrous piece of wishful thinking I’ve read since Steve Schmidt said Sarah Palin would be a game changer!
“So, he rolled the dice, thinking he won’t lose his anti-tunnel base (that’s where the “I will, however, continue to ask tough questions” comes in), while he could gain enough undecideds and soft Mallahan supporters to win.
Not a bad play. …
The added message: “I’ve listened to you. I’m not the intransigent dick you think I am.”
Not a bad play at all… if you’re for MALLAHAN!
& to answer your hypothetical, “Yes, McGinn has PROVEN he’s as big a dick as anyone ever thought he was.”
geez, get a clue
It would have been a good idea for McGinn, back in the primary, to:
- Run on a platform centered around more than one issue
If his campaign centered on more key issues than just the tunnel, this announcement is kind of a wonky afterthought. But since it was the crux of his campaign, it’s a bit more damning to say the least.
For all of you who feel that McGinn threw his supporters under the bus (or light rail, or whatever other cute turn of that phrase that you can come up with), the only people I hear screaming about this are Mallahan supporters.
Saw your endorsements for the port yesterday. Interesting thing about endorsements, the latest rumbling I’ve heard from the Doud GOP attack machine is that Holland is running around touting the Governors endorsement, but that she is really staying out of the race. Has anyone found out if this is true? That would be embarrassing for him if he’s not telling the truth.
Also, did you read about the mailer Doud (which shares the first three letters of douche) sent out in the Seattle Times? What an asshole.
As fallacious attacks go, Gidge, that wasn’t particular bright and I’m sure you’re smarter than comment #10.
Among those not too happy about this announcement, I’m abstaining, many others are undecided and some may even have been for McGinn but not anymore. Yes, Mallaspam supporters, all 23 of them, will spin this as McGinn flip flopping, but most of the McGinn Acolytes will spin this as a win in their “McGinn’s shit doesn’t stink” manner as well.
Plenty of voters with no real rooting interest in this campaign aren’t too high on this move. Whether or not it was a good move (I don’t think he had much of a political choice), he pinned himself by pinning virtually his entire campaign on the tunnel in the first place.
^ comment #11
Ditto everything regarding the New York Times. You are so on the money. It’s an incredible paper, what a paper ought to aspire to be. For a kid who was weaned on The Washington Post, Seattle’s print options have been embarrassing. Thank Crikey for the NYT. My hero.
I know this comment is probably more appropriate for crosscut, who doesn’t appear to know the difference between historical perspective and nostalgia, but McGinn leaving the tunnel is kind of like Humphrey breaking with LBJ on Vietnam — too little, too late. But the right thing to do.
Deja vu of 2000:
The Business candidate, who made his money and spent all his time in business; who has shown no previous interest in anything but business (no involvement in public life, no experience); who is backed by the moneyed establishment and business interests; runs his campaign on an idea-free platform of platitudes and garners the respect of the thoughtless, gullible public.
Is this George W Bush or Joe Mallahan?
At all the public events I’ve seen McGinn speaking, he voiced his opinion (i.e., something he has thought about and come to a conclusion on based on principles) that Seattle’s time, money, and future would be better spent on improving mass transit, schools, neighborhoods and parks, and internet infrastructure – than on Billions of dollars for a new highway. That’s Mike McGinn’s principled opinion. But the next Mayor doesn’t get to decide on the tunnel highway because it’s already being voted on by the current Mayor and City Council. McGinn has always recognized that the decision may be out of his hands by the time the election is over – I guess most of the public never heard that because all issues must be characterized as glaringly black/white, yes/no. Well, it was never in the next mayor’s hands.
Thank you City Council. Now George W. Mallahan can tell us what ideas and principles he has for the city, since his opposition to McGinn’s opposition is a moot point.
Drive Efficiencies? Great. How about “Loves Freedumb” too?
Thanks for playing, George W. Mallahan, we know how the last 8 YEARS of “no experience, no ideas, but I have an MBA” turned out.
My vote is for McGinn.
I’m really impressed when people under the age of 70 even know who Monk was, let alone appreciate him.
I’m not any more impressed by Mallahan than I was before McGinn made his statement yesterday, so I don’t regret my McGinn vote.
But this kind of thing is only one reason why I think mail-in ballots are a crock. Anything can happen in the 2.5 weeks between receiving your ballot and the mandated postmark date. I sympathize with people who would like to take their votes back, because there may come a time (who knows, maye tomorrow) when I would want to do so on any number of candidate votes. So you either mail the damn ballot in immediately, thereby losing your chance to change your mind, or you hold it in your house and lose the damn ballot itself. Not a good choice.
From @joelconnelly on Twitter last night (of all people, in all places) FTW:
“A prediction: He’s getting spin from the usual amen corner, but opening to deep bore tunnel will drill hole in Mike McGinn’s support.”
So a note to Gidge and all the other McGinn followers here and on the Slog– note that your place in the amen corner has been acknowledged and the political discussion is now moving on.
We are not in love with either of our candidates (well, most of us) (and, really, Seattle, would you want to be?), but with this move, McGinn has shown his true colors. Mallahan has a lot of learning to do, but at least he has integrity and the ability to listen. Mallahan talks about “principled leadership” and that is exactly what McGinn lacks.
Gomez, please read my comment. I said that the only people *I* hear *screaming* about this…. There could be other people grumbling about it (or even screaming), but the only people I’ve heard are Mallahan people.
Gidge is right. The only people I hear making a lot of noise on this are the ever mean-spirited Mallahan Communication Team and their glassy-eyed followers. (Vlad, Pete, David, Kate, Roddy, etc….)
Let me report the exact comment you made:
So why direct this comment at ‘all of you who feel that McGinn threw his supporters under the bus (or light rail, or whatever other cute turn of that phrase that you can come up with)’? Nobody specifically is “screaming”, anywhere, unless they’re batshit crazy.
Your comment was clearly in reference to anyone criticizing the decision. You’re not being honest if you want to seriously argue that your cheeky comment was actually meant to be taken literally. Don’t insult our intelligence.
I’ve thought for a while that NY Times and other national papers will survive and get bigger, hyperlocal media will get local ads, and regional papers like the Seattle Times will die (or attempt to get hyperlocal like the P-I).
Here’s a great article on the candidate Publicola supports for City Attorney. Weird that Publicola hates nightlife. Just plain weird.
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/remain-silent/Content?oid=2525841
Gidge @ 11:
I am not and have never been a Mallahan supporter, and you have not seen me praise him, or rationalize his candidacy, anywhere. Clearly, I do not think very highly of McGinn, either. The only thing good about this election is that one of these lamers will lose.
If I lived inside the city limits I would leave that slot on my ballot unmarked.