The Dust Settles

The votes have been counted, the last of the concessions or declarations have come in. Let us see where we ended up.

President: Barack Obama
(You may have heard about this one. What is remarkable about this was the hearty and generally peaceable celebration both in the country and around the world. One of my co-workers complained about "Drunken Hipsters Turning Up the Dumb" on Cap Hill (Of course, he was one of the ones that helped clean out the QFC of champagne there)).

US Rep, 8th District: Dave Reichert.
(Alas, the votes are tight, but not getting any tighter, and Darcy Burner has conceded. We keep an innocuous Republican who, now freed of his GOP masters, may actually start being the moderate the Times pretends he is.)

Governor: Christine Gregoire
(Everyone called this a nailbiter, but it wasn't. Dino Rossi went down by a sizable majority and delivered a concession speech noting that he didn't really want the job anyway. The investigation into his fundraising activities should continue - if it was illegal on 3 November, it should be just as illegal on 5 November.)

Lt Governor: Brad Owen
Secretary of State: Sam Reed
State Treasurer: Jim McIntire
State Auditor: Brian Sontagg
Attorney General: Rob McKenna
Commissioner of Public Lands: Peter J. Goldmark
(Tight, but definitely a win. Apparently if your policies bring down the side of a mountain and flood Chehalis there ARE repercussions. Who'dathunkit?)
Superintendent of Public Instruction: Randy Dorn
(Another changing of the guard. Dorn stated in the campaign that it wasn't about the WASL, so now we're going to change the WASL).
Insurance Commissioner: Mike Kreidler

Legislative District 47 (Pos 1): Geoff Simpson
Legislative District 47 (Pos 2): Pat Sullivan

Supreme Court Justices: Mary Fairhurst, Charles Johnson, Debra Stephens

King County Superior Court, Pos 1 – Tim Bradshaw
King County Superior Court, Pos 22 – Holly Hill
King County Superior Court, Pos 37 – Barbara Mack
(1 out of 3, but these court positions have been races between very good candidates, so either way, the people of Washington win).

King County Amendment 1 (Elected Director of Elections): Yes
King County Amendment 2 (Expand definitions of discrimination): Yes
King County Amendment 3 (Restructure regional committees): Yes
King County Amendment 4 (Set requirements for some offices): Yes
King County Amendment 5 (Create forecast office): Yes
King County Amendment 6 (Move up budget deadlines): Yes
King County Amendment 7 (Increase requirements for Initiatives): No
King County Amendment 8 (Make executive, assessor, and county council nonpartisan offices): Yes
(There will be such headslaps when some of these go into effect. Remember, the answer to "who's bright idea was THIS?" is found in the mirror).

King County Fire Protection District 2 (Bonds for new stations): Yes
Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety (Restore levy for funding): No

Washington State Initiative 985 (Magic Ponies): No
(Of everything on the ballot, this was the most dramatic crash and burn. Its major proponent, Tim Eyeman, has as a result declared victory and promised to return next year with another initiative. Yeah, I'm excited about the prospect, too.)
Washington State Initiative 1000 (Allow terminally ill access to lethal drugs): Yes
Washington State Initiative 1029 (Certify long-term care workers): Yes

Sound Transit Propositions 1: Yes
(The other big surprise. Conventional Wisdom said that a mass transit package without a big juicy giveaway to the roads lobby would fail. Instead, unshackled by its connection, this one soared. Now the big argument is - why do we have to wait so long before we get it?)

And that's it. Now I can get back to talking about comics, games, and collectible quarters.

More later,