A few words from the Clark County Democrat Newsletter about the Mielke ballot curing campaign.

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Others have already written about the impacts of the Barnett/Harju/Mohegan/Paskenta corruption campaign and the effectiveness of the ballot curing effort put into place by the Mielke Campaign in conjunction with the Washington State Republican Party and the Clark County GOP.

Now, a few words on the subject from the loyal opposition, The Clark County Democrats newsletter:

THE DEMOCRAT
Clark County Democratic Party Newsletter
Volume 17, Issue 12 Serving Democrats with News and Opinion December 2008

Obama fever cooled, down ballot

While Clark County Democrats were gearing up for a joyous Nov. 4 celebration of the election of Barack Obama as the nation’s new president, Clark County Republicans were grimly beating the bushes for every last possible vote for their local candidates. ("Grimly?" Actually, the huge number of volunteers and party staff involved in this massive effort had a blast. "Grimly" might apply to some... but not to us. Kinda sounds like sour grapes to me. -ed)

Persistence paid. (yes.... it did, didn't it? -ed) Barring an unprecedented turnaround in the requisite machine recount of 168,405 ballots starting on Dec. 2, Democrat Pam Brokaw lost to Republican Tom Mielke by 207 votes. (It actually wound up at 2o9 votes, to be precise. - Ed) The Board of Clark County Commissioners will have an unfortunate 2-1 Republican tilt for the first time in more than three decades. ("Unfortunate" for some, it would seem. -ed)

Brokaw had a solid lead of around 4,000 votes when the first tally was reported on election night. David Carrier was looking likely in his underfunded race against Goliath Sen. Don Benton. ("Underfunded?" Benton spent $260,000 from all sources to win; Carrier spent $235,000 with $7,000 left over to lose. I don't think he can use "underfunded" as an excuse. -ed) Things looked somewhat less than hopeless for Democrat Jeanne Harris in her challenge to County Commissioner Marc Boldt. Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire appeared on the brink of winning a majority of Clark County votes to add to her victory.

Then those last-minute Republican votes started to appear in subsequent tallies from the Clark County Elections Department. Obama held his six-point margin over the Republican ticket, but Brokaw’s edge diminished and finally disappeared. Benton’s numbers surged against Carrier. Boldt’s lead over Harris steadily widened. Gregoire fell a few points behind Dino Rossi in this area. The margins of all three Republican incumbent legislators in the 18th District got wider. (Just like we drew it up on the chalkboard, gang! -ed)

Of course, there was a lot of good news for Clark County Democrats. In the 17th Legislative District Tim Probst posted a solid win to join Democratic Rep. Deb Wallace in the state House of Representatives. Sen. Craig Pridemore and Rep. Jim Moeller handily won re-election in the 49th Legislative District, and Democrat Jim Jacks was elected by a solid majority to succeed Bill Fromhold. U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, had little difficulty in burying his Republican challenger. Statewide, Democrat Peter Goldmark unseated Republican Land Commissioner Doug Sutherland, and Democrat Jim McIntyre won his race for state treasurer.

Those chunks of good news may ring increasingly hollow in Clark County over the next two years as two Republicans who had hapless records as state legislators hold sway over dozens of decisions that add up to county policy and direction. Meanwhile we Democrats may waste a lot of energy fixing blame for our late-hour collapse into Obamamania as the Republicans beat their undergrowth for every last shot.

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Actually, it was a perfect storm.

Brokaw's support of bridge tolls and the megacasino, combined with her efforts through David Barnett to sell her seat to the Cowlitz Tribe appear to have resulted in an astounding level of blowback.

Combining that with a brilliantly planned and masterfully executed ballot curing effort, and you have Commissioner-Elect Tom Mielke achieving the politically impossible: the ascendancy of Republican control of the county commission in a democrat year in the face of the Obama tsunami.

Thanks to the Clark County Democrats for acknowledging our hard work and their failure to plan a post-election strategy. Thanks also go to David Barnett, who's last minute $76,500 bomb blew up in his face.

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