1. At its convention this weekend, the Washington State Democratic Party was not able to settle on any of the five candidates running in the redrawn 1st Congressional District.
A candidate needed 48 votes to get the nomination. The final count was:
Darcy Burner: 39
Laura Ruderman: 29
Suzan DelBene: 15
No endorsement: 6
Darshan Rauniyar: 5
State Sen. Steve Hobbs: 1
A couple of editorial observations. First, this is a blow to former Dept. of Revenue Director DelBene, who is clearly the establishment favorite, and a big win for netroots liberal Burner, who is seen as a major annoyance by the establishment.
Burner's win follows recent KING 5 polling that shows her leading the field of Democrats.
Second, the fact that Hobbs, an incumbent state senator who's liberal on social issues and conservative on economic issues, got just one vote, is proof that the Democrats don't quite get that the 1st, which is serious swing turf more suited to Hobbs' moderate position than Burner's liberal one. Hobbs has defied the Democrats on labor issues, such as workers' comp and education reform, but he stuck with the Democrats earlier this year when his Road Kill Caucus compatriots joined the Republicans during the budget coup.
2. Other winners from crowded fields at the Democratic convention: Former Gov. Chris Gregoire aide Kathleen Drew won the nomination for Secretary of State over former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and state Sen. Jim Kastama (D-25, Puyallup). (Kastama is in the dog house with his party right now for joining Republicans during the GOP budget coup this year in Olympia.)
In the state auditor's race, state Sen. Craig Pridemore (D-49, Vancouver) got the nomination, beating out social conservative state Rep. Mark Miloscia (D-30, Federal Way) and Rep. Troy Kelley (D-28, Tacoma).
3. On the Republican side, Mitt Romney got 34 delegates (including 10 at-large), Ron Paul won five, and Rick Santorum got one.
A bit of controversy on the GOP side, though: GOP state Rep. Glenn Anderson (R-5, Fall City), a maverick and a 'Yes' vote on gay marriage earlier this year, was not allowed to speak. The Seattle Times' Jim Brunner has that story.
4. Republican U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA, 5) for VP? DC politics rag Roll Call is speculating on that possibility this morning after Mitt Romney — who's holding a fundraiser in Seattle today organized by McMorris Rodgers— named the 5th ranking Republican in the U.S. House as his House Liaison.
While Romney may or may not be setting McMorris Rodgers up for the VP slot, he's definitely using McMorris Rodgers as his point person to combat the Democrats' "War on Women" mantra, which McMorris Rodgers has single-handedly made her cause, challenging the Democratic charge on the TV talk show circuit.
