The Races I Care the Most About Tomorrow
1. Chris Gregoire vs. Dino Rossi for Governor of Washington. Big for teachers. Governor Gregoire has been great on making sure teachers get their COLA and working on K-3 class size; both of those are almost certain to go away in a Rossi administration. Frankly, COLA is almost certain to disappear next year anyways, given the economics of the times, but I've more confidence in Gregoire to work hard to restore it than I do Senator Rossi.
It's going to be close, damnably so, but I think Gregoire is declared a winner on November 10th.
2. Barack Obama v. John McCain. Obvious reasons. I wish this was the McCain of 2000. I wish he hadn't chosen Sarah Palin. C'est la vis. Obama wins.
3. Don Barlowe v. Kevin Parker, Washington State House. Purely back-yard interest here, but local Spokane guy like Don Barlowe is the vice-chair of the House Education committee and nice to have around. That said, Don's not the most aggressive campaigner, and Parker is. If Obama has long coat tails, it could benefit Barlowe.
4. Shelly Short v. Sue Lani Madsen, Washington State House. I've written about this race before, where Shelly got her name in the paper in a pretty embarrassing way right before the primary election. The latest can be found in this rather biased piece from the Spokesman-Review, but if that article does indeed reflect the reality of the situation you've got to kind of wonder.
5. Al Franken v. Norm Coleman, US Senate in Minnesota. I like Al. Liked him on TV, liked his books, liked his radio show went I saw it live here in Spokane a couple of years ago. He's said some stupid things, but I see a little Wellstone in him, and that's encouraging.
6. Carol Gregory v. Skip Priest, Washington State House. This is an interesting one to me. Carol Gregory is a former president of the Washington Education Association and would probably be good for teachers, but Skip Priest (the Republican incumbent in the race) isn't that bad. Hell, I was pulling for him to run for OSPI, because he's shown that he's a reasonable guy who is pretty thoroughly versed on the issues. This is the sort of Republican we should treasure.
7. Terry Bergeson v. Randy Dorn, Superintendent of Public Instruction. At one point this looked like it could be white hot, but the intensity of the Governor's race has taken some of the shine off. It's a referendum on the WASL, essentially, and if Dorn has tapped into enough anti-WASL sentiment he could win. On the other hand, Bergeson's got a ton of name recognition.
(This is also low on the list for me because I've come to believe that the legislature makes far more of a difference than OSPI does in setting and carrying out school policy. Having an SPI we can respect is nice, but not essential.)
It'll be a fun day.
It's going to be close, damnably so, but I think Gregoire is declared a winner on November 10th.
2. Barack Obama v. John McCain. Obvious reasons. I wish this was the McCain of 2000. I wish he hadn't chosen Sarah Palin. C'est la vis. Obama wins.
3. Don Barlowe v. Kevin Parker, Washington State House. Purely back-yard interest here, but local Spokane guy like Don Barlowe is the vice-chair of the House Education committee and nice to have around. That said, Don's not the most aggressive campaigner, and Parker is. If Obama has long coat tails, it could benefit Barlowe.
4. Shelly Short v. Sue Lani Madsen, Washington State House. I've written about this race before, where Shelly got her name in the paper in a pretty embarrassing way right before the primary election. The latest can be found in this rather biased piece from the Spokesman-Review, but if that article does indeed reflect the reality of the situation you've got to kind of wonder.
5. Al Franken v. Norm Coleman, US Senate in Minnesota. I like Al. Liked him on TV, liked his books, liked his radio show went I saw it live here in Spokane a couple of years ago. He's said some stupid things, but I see a little Wellstone in him, and that's encouraging.
6. Carol Gregory v. Skip Priest, Washington State House. This is an interesting one to me. Carol Gregory is a former president of the Washington Education Association and would probably be good for teachers, but Skip Priest (the Republican incumbent in the race) isn't that bad. Hell, I was pulling for him to run for OSPI, because he's shown that he's a reasonable guy who is pretty thoroughly versed on the issues. This is the sort of Republican we should treasure.
7. Terry Bergeson v. Randy Dorn, Superintendent of Public Instruction. At one point this looked like it could be white hot, but the intensity of the Governor's race has taken some of the shine off. It's a referendum on the WASL, essentially, and if Dorn has tapped into enough anti-WASL sentiment he could win. On the other hand, Bergeson's got a ton of name recognition.
(This is also low on the list for me because I've come to believe that the legislature makes far more of a difference than OSPI does in setting and carrying out school policy. Having an SPI we can respect is nice, but not essential.)
It'll be a fun day.
Labels: election 2008
posted by Ryan at 9:26 PM
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