Supreme Court Position 1: Jim Johnson

As I wrote earlier I have voted for Justice Jim Johnson in the race for State Supreme Court Justice Position Number 1.

This race is to re-elect Justice Jim Johnson to a second term on the state's highest court or replace him with workers-comp attorney Stan Rumbaugh.

As the incumbent justice has received virtually every newspaper endorsement in the state the challenger is making this race about the fact that Stan Rumbaugh is pro-abortion and would have voted to throw-out this state's Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) whereas the incumbent justice voted in the majority to uphold the law.

As I actually agree with almost all of the the big-case opinions that Justice Jim Johnson has written I see no reason to unseat him with a candidate that has almost zero expierence at all in appelate courts who is being heralded as the candidate that would legislate from the bench.

I've voted to keep state Justice Jim Johnson on the bench.

U.S. House 8th District: Tim Dillon

I've already ranted about how much I can't stand incumbent U.S. Representative Dave Reichert (read it here). As I already stated I voted for Republican challenger Tim Dillon.

While I fully realize that The Sheriff will in all likelihood make it to the General Election (along with Democrat challenger Suzan DelBene) I will never ever again cast my lot for the supposedly conservative useful idiot Dave Reichert. If that means a Pelosi-drone Darcy Burner-clone sits in Rod Chandler & Jennifer Dunn's seat for 2 years then so be it. At least then an actual conservative can make a good run at the seat.

As Tim Dillon probably won't make it to the General Election I will likely be writing-in Reagan Dunn's name on my November ballot.

Senate Race: Dino Rossi

As I wrote earlier I have voted for Dino Rossi in the U.S. Senate race.

This race really boils down to either re-electing Senator Patty Murray for a 4th term or not. As Senator Murray is No Rocket Scientist, chairs no full committees in the U.S. Senate despite being the 21st senior Democrat in the Senate (19th not counting Specter or Lieberman) - where 3 more junior senators already run standing committees, or replacing her with someone (anyone) else.

Despite the fact that she previously lead the DSCC (odd since she's not from New York or New Jersey) into debt, is the Secretary of the Democratic Senate Conference (where the Vice-Chair position was created to bump the Secretary's leadership ranking down a peg), and sits on the Appropriations (chairing the Transporation Subcommittee), Budget, and Rules Committees she doesn't seem to wield a lot of clout in the Senate.

So the alternative to Patty Murray this year would seem to be either 2-time state Gubernatorial candidate (who really did win the 2004 election) and former State Senator Dino Rossi, farmer and former Washington Redskins Tight End great Clint Didier, or Bellingham entrepreneur Paul Akers.

Rossi certainly has the polling numbers to show he can make this race a tight one, but at one point so did Didier. While I actually liked Akers prior to Rossi jumping into the race (pretty late into the campaign season as his critics will cry to anyone who will listen) Akers not only just doesn't poll anywhere near the big three (Murray, Rossi, and Didier) he also joined Didier in doing the dumbest thing I think I've ever seen in a U.S. Senate campaign season - Akers and Didier joining together to run a joint campaign for a single political office.

Didier, the early Palin-endorsed (who now can't seem to find any time to show up for him) candidate just sounds too damn angry all the time for me. The fact that Ron Paul has endorsed him also doesn't bolster his stock with me.

So I prefer the not-Murray candidate who has a track record of winning support and votes from the muddled-middle that in so many elections really seem to decide who wins.

I've put my vote and my money on Dino Rossi.

August Primary

As with the last General Election I'll show my ballot picks for this Primary Election first, then break out each office (as time allows).

My Ballot picks:

United States Senator: Dino Rossi (R)

U.S. Representative (Congressional District 8): Tim Dillon (R)

State Legislative District 11, Representative Position 1: Sarah Sanoy-Wright (No Party)

State Legislative District 11, Representative Position 2: Jackie Moore (No Party)

King County Prosecuting Attorney: (write-in) Lana Weinmann (R)

State Supreme Court, Position 1: Jim Johnson

State Supreme Court, Position 5: (write-in) Terry Lukens

State Supreme Court, Position 6: Bryan Chushcoff

State Court of Appeals, Division 1, District 1, Position 1: (write-in) Stephen L. Johnson

State Court of Appeals, Division 1, District 1, Position 2: (write-in) John Groen

And if I were in the 9th Congressional District:

U.S. Representative (Congressional District 9): Dick Muri (R)

And if I were in the 47th Legislative District:

State Legislative District 47, Senator: Joe Fain (R)

State Legislative District 47, Representative Position 1: Nancy Wyatt (R)

State Legislative District 47, Representative Position 2: Mark Hargrove (R)

Specific races to follow...