Cornfield on Primary Results

Herald political reporter Jerry Cornfield weighs in on some interesting primary results, including Mike Hope's run against Liz Loomis in the 44th LD:

Republican Mike Hope of Lake Stevens can't be faulted for feeling the third time will be charming in his pursuit of a legislative seat in the 44th District. He's a mail tray of votes behind appointed incumbent Rep. Liz Loomis, D-Snohomish, far closer than he ever came during his failed runs for state office in 2004 and 2006.

Yes, it's only the primary, but Mike Hope is only down by a point and a quarter (and with ballots left to count, and Hope gaining every day, he might end up with the lead when the counting's done), against an incumbent Democrat in a Democratic district, where the other Democrat in her district -- Hans Dunshee -- has seven more percentage points than she does. The Democrats have every reason to fear losing this seat, which was vacated by John Lovick when he was elected Snohomish County Sheriff.

Cornfield also says that Val Stevens' haul of 59 percent of the vote for 39th LD Senator "may prompt the state Democratic Party to start snipping its financial umbilical cord to [Fred] Walser." Maybe, but since the Democrats have given him over $25,000 -- most of it after his criminal conviction in June -- it's not clear that anything could ever happen that would convince them to not give Walser their money (and, like Sheriff Lovick, their endorsement).

Cornfield also correctly notes that in November's race for school superintendent between Dorn and Bergeson, "look for ballots marked with 'none of the above.'"

And in the funniest-stat-I-hadn't-seen category, he offers, "[Rob] McKenna even won in Pierce County, where [John] Ladenburg is the county executive." Yeah, I'd say that counts as a bad sign for Ladenberg this November.