Top Two Primary Observations

One disadvantage of Washington's new "Top Two" primary is that in many races, the suspense in November has been negated.

For example, in our area, Republicans Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Steve Hailey, and Joe Schmick are all coasting to easy victories tonight by margins so large that it would take divine intervention (that not even the Obamessiah can provide) for their Democratic opponents to win in the general election.

Of course, the governor's race is close and promises to be another nailbiter come November. I predict a Rossi victory, however, as Dino only polled 34% in the 2004 primary and has over 45% tonight. But presidential and statewide races are notoriously difficult to predict from polls and primary results.

There have been some surprises tonight *UPDATED 8/20* :

Dino Rossi is winning Whitman County as expected 40.02% to 37.67% over the Queen. However, Paulistinian John Aiken, a political unknown from Spokane, has racked up an impressive 18.93% of the vote, the highest percentage of any county in the state. So much for the Paulistas empty promises to help get Dino elected.

UPDATE 8/20/08 : The figures by given either Whitman County or the Secretaty of State were way off. Today, Dino has 48.17% and the Queen 45.34%. Aiken only received 2.42%, which is much more in line with his figures elsewhere. My apologies to the Paulistas.

Mark Mays, the Democratic Party's endorsed candidate for Congress in the 5th District, is less than 8 percentage points ahead of perennial Democratic candidate Barbara Lampert (20.17% for Mays vs. 12.75% for Lampert.) That has to be discouraging to Mays, and certainly will not help him attract campaign funding from outside the district he so desperately needs.

Speaking of funding, Democrat Kenneth Caylor, who is oposing Steve Hailey, has received 6,254 votes compared to Democrat Tyana Kelley, Joe Schmick's opponent, who has received 5,792. Admittedly, Kelley will likely receive some of the 1,036 votes that have been received by Green Party candidate Christopher Winter. But Caylor and Winter have spent 20 times less than Kelley. There are apparently a certain number of people in the 9th District that vote Democratic regardless of the money spent by a candidate. For example, CES moonbat Sean Gallegos received 37.6% of the vote for the 9th District Position 1 seat in 2004 against beloved long-term state representative Don Cox.

Again, this does not bode well for Kelley's hopes of attracting outside interest in her campaign. Looks like the Republican war chest in the 9th LD may be put to use electing Republicans elsewhere.