Race for King County Executive

06/29/2009

Dear Editor,

The new KING 5 Poll shows that Susan Hutchison, the former news anchor, is still riding high on her massive name recognition advantage. It appears her notoriety and solid Republican base make Hutchison a near certainty to move past the top two primary on August 18.

This puts Democrats in a difficult position. With the recent initiative to make the office of King County Executive non-partisan, the race will be harder to frame as Democrat versus Republican—playing right into the hands of the well-known Hutchison.

To hold on to this office, Democrats should be trying to unite behind a single candidate even now. The fight to cut into Hutchison’s name recognition dominance and boost from a solid conservative base cannot start early enough for Democrats. The newly non-partisan nature of the office necessitates haste.

While numbers were previously muddled, the new poll shows that Dow Constantine is now a front-runner among Democrats. He has already proven himself a capable leader in a long career of public service and this new poll confirms his viability.

Only through unifying can the Democratic majority of King County prevent a candidate out of step with their ideals from usurping a vital office.

Nick Rosellini
Seattle

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Comments

Not so fast Dow...

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on Mon, 06/29/2009 - 16:43.

It is ridiculous to think that the voters of King County will vote for Susan Hutchison if we don’t band behind a democrat now. This is a scare tactic being propagated by the Dow campaign. Susan Hutchison has already won all of the support she is going to get, and whoever wins the second spot in the primary will handily beat her.

Instead of blindly hurling support towards the democrat that has a lead over the others that practically falls within the margin of error, democrats should be examining issues and the character of all the candidates. The Dow campaign has been highlighting it’s candidate’s differences against Hutchison, but I would rather hear what distinguishes him between the other democrats.

Really? Last time I checked

Submitted by MIguy1981 (not verified) on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 11:45.

Really? Last time I checked Hutchison is already polling at 40% or higher. With a race as under the radar as this one the fact that she is that close to a majority with 30% undecided is a major reason for concern. If it were just any Republican I'd totally agree with you but she's got name recognition out the window. We've gotta close that gap asap. I'd love to see Jarrett get a chance but with those new numbers I'm just worried about keeping Hutchison out.

Hutchison can win. That's the scary. Writing off that possibility is a recipe for disaster.