Tough choices for governor in Washington.

I’ve mostly been silent about this election cycle, which is definitely unusual for me. It’s difficult to explain, exactly… or even inexactly.

But there is no doubt the cringe-factor has played a role. I’ve spent the better part of the last 40 years observing, involved in, analyzing, advising and consulting in primarily local politics. The wear and tear on me has been horrific and now, as I approach my 69^th birthday, I find the once roaring fire that drove me to have been reduced to the size of a single ember, little more than a spark.

Over time in a river, even the sharpest stone is typically worn down to a pebble.

Real life combined with medical issues and stress finally did the deed.

And situations like those confronting us now have also played a role, combined with the cynicism resulting from candidates claiming to be one thing, only to become something completely different once sworn in.

The culmination of these experiences where those false promises are clearly bereft of accountability in a state where the Supreme Court has ruled that lying as a part of any campaign by either public agency (Sound Transit) private organization (the Drug Policy Alliance) and individual candidates, among them Sen. Ann Rivers (R?-18) and former Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt, are perfectly legal has led to a certain level of “why bother?”

Which brings us to the question of which GOP candidate, if any, will advance to the general election this November.

I say “if any” because the misguided efforts by both parties to force party registration (which I strongly opposed and made every effort to stop while I was the state GOP’s Executive Director) led to our top-two primary system where regardless of party, the top two vote-getters move to the general, which has led to a great many democrat-only general elections and to a lesser extent in this dark blue state, the odd Republican-only general elections.

Thanks in large part to the efforts of the Washington State Grange, we’ve so far managed to avoid the cancer of party identification, save for going through the motions of the lightly-voted presidential primary (35.26% of registered voters earlier this year) where if you participate at all, you have to write your party allegiance on your ballot envelope.

I, personally, am known as a 4 of 4 voter. This is based on my participation in the last 4 elections, regardless of politics or school levy or bond or what have you, or any other balloted election. 4 of 4’s can be counted on to vote. And that’s a very valuable commodity.

Except this last time. The requirement of party identification on the envelope, which I steadfastly oppose, made that impossible for me so I skipped it. And I will skip it again in 2028 due to the party identification issue as well as the reality that the left could run a brick for president in this state like they did in 2020 and they’d vote for it and the leftist federal candidate would win the electoral votes here.

Democrats are rerunning a president too dementia-addled to stand trial for his theft of documents as a Senator and Vice President and subsequently the storage of some of those documents in cardboard boxes in a garage, while somehow simultaneously remaining sharp enough to be president.

That is obviously either an indictment of the position of the Presidency of the United States, as in any simple-minded idiot can actually perform that role… OR, it’s an indictment of our justice system because the democrat-controlled Department of Justice just sees this as yet another instance of the weaponized double-standard where Biden’s political opponents face a level of accountability they otherwise wouldn’t experience… while he avoids ANY accountability outside a ballot box.

In short, like the Washington State rule on lying, if your side is in power, it’s perfectly OK to lie your collective ass off as long as you can win.

There is also, I believe, a substantial overlap between the state and federal elections confronting us and frankly, I find the whole thing to be exhausting.

The microcosm of our state gubernatorial primary election is a reflection of the choices confronting the entirety of the American people at the federal level.

I’ve seen, up close and personal, voters make decisions to oppose someone not because of what they have done or will do, but because they don’t “like” them. And that’s a major part of the problem confronting us today. It’s a complete abrogation of responsibility. Arrive at an outcome of the “like” test, and you no longer need to do the work. You don’t have to pay attention. You don’t have to understand what’s going on and who bears responsibility for this horrific state of affairs.

The “like” test supersedes all of that, “end of discussion.”

Of course, that’s how some historical figures in the past who were very, very bad actors came to power.

Vision doesn’t matter. Ability doesn’t matter. Record doesn’t matter. The reality of past=prologue doesn’t matter. For far too many, the only thing that matters is if the voter “likes” them.

It’s not surprising, really. We’re a feelings-based society that typically ignores reality, driven instead by manipulation and social media combined with fictional advertising. So why not vote for a guy bent on this country’s destruction because you dislike the other guy; even though America was better off in every imaginable way during his term, considering the impacts of covid?  For many voters, the destruction a candidate has caused, destruction they see with their own eyes and the blood he has spilled and which is dripping off his hands means nothing.

The vote this November will be driven by hate. And the unreasoned, never ending hatred of a candidate and, for that matter, a religion; frequently by the SAME PEOPLE, is on full display here.

One is dementia-addled and brain damaged idiot with a worthless, incompetent, ignorant toad as a VP, a heartbeat from the absolutely unimaginable horror of taking over for Racist Joe. He has done more damage to this country in his almost four years than Obama did in his eight. It will take decades to repair every aspect of our lives that’s been infected by their cancer.

The other did mean tweets and drove leftists insane which, to be sure, isn’t that far of a trip.

Here at the state level, there are two main candidates for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in the general. One is a former member of Congress and a former King County Sheriff. The other is a former Special Forces soldier.

One has a voting record in Congress frequently more in keeping with the Congressional Democrat Caucus than with the GOP. The other is being chastised for wearing awards and qualification badges on his uniform that he is not entitled to, and claiming to have done things he didn't do.

The former soldier was endorsed by the State GOP. The former Congressman threw a hissy fit over losing out, which from the 10,000 foot level certainly qualified him for losing what little chance he had for that party endorsement.

Here is my professional opinion of the outcome.

The GOP candidate in the general will be the former Congressman.

When the GOP-endorsed candidate gets clobbered in the primary, two things will happen.  First, the GOP base will stay home in droves for the general. There will be zero ways to incentivize the base to throw their support behind a candidate who, along with his surrogates, never misses the opportunity to belittle the soldier’s supporters... and who, all while the non-endorsed candidate, when he was in Congress, on the surface at least, has a voting record in office that would make Patty Murray smile.

Think in terms of Jaime Herrera voting to impeach Donald Trump in that totally unconstitutional congressional kangaroo impeachment court… or Liz Cheney/Adam Kinzinger's democrat efforts on the Jan 6 Committee.

But the exact, same, thing would happen if the Soldier won. The leftist Republicans would refuse to vote for him, making the outcome inevitable and a replay of the Culp campaign 4 years ago.

Second, by committing political hara-kiri, the state party will have been reduced to the political laughing stock of the PNW.

Far too often, even those actively engaged in the political realm fall victim to the “is he like me” syndrome instead of the “can he win” syndrome.

That’s what happened here.

Conservatives are frequently unable to separate the two because a major part of conservatism all-too-frequently involves feelings instead of political reality.

That is not to say that conservatives are wrong in their thinking as to what is the best course of action of those available. But that IS to say that frequently, conservatives as a group forget that they make up, perhaps, 30% of the electorate. And in this state? Likely even less.

But the political choices to date for the GOP in this state appear to be between fringe-left Republicans which results in the conservative base staying home, or conservative Republicans which result in the independents and fringe-left GOP’ers staying home; or, as they did in the WA03 Congressional allowing their fringe-left hatred of conservatives to shine through by actively supporting an antifa-leftist in the Congressional race.

Democrats, for their part, are just as guilty. For example, they’ll run a fringe-left, downtown-Seattle democrat in the most rural of legislative districts that have been GOP for decades. Not because that candidate has even a remote chance of winning but because they will support no other, which leads to their inevitable defeat n those districts.

This state is a deep, dark, blue. There’s no denying it. And after the general in November is over; it will, if anything, be even a deeper and darker blue. Because as badly as things are going in this state, democrats dominate and have party discipline the GOP can’t even dream about.

To be successful, we’ve got to take baby steps. And as Culp proved 4 years ago, doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different outcome IS a definition of insanity.

In all of this, we can see the symptoms. No one realistically believed Reichert could win statewide. The Establishment hacks that put him up to it are the same hacks that supported the democrat over the Republican in the 3^rd Congressional District 2 years ago and spent millions to torpedo him, which they did successfully.

The GOP establishment would rather have a democrat win than a conservative Republican.

Sadly, my professional opinion in all of this is that absent some major October Surprise, this election is already over. And my professional opinion is not the result of any bias for or against anyone. It is my assessment of politics in this state.

Were I wrong in this assessment, leftists would be rioting against their city governments. Seattle has turned into a sewer. Tacoma may even be worse. Most every city of any size in this state, including Vancouver, refuses to act to end crime, homelessness, drugs and everything that goes with it. And the majority of these cities continuing to foster these outcomes all have the commonality of leftist dominance in city government.

Even Lynnwood has city council members involved in drag queens for 2 year olds. Grooming is obvious and open. And who’s doing anything about it?

ANGER is required to replace incumbents or titular incumbents.  And it’s just not there at the state level. It SHOULD be. But it isn’t.

And as a result, the winner in this state will not be a Republican.

ANGER is required to replace incumbents or titular incumbents.  And it’s just not there at the state level. It SHOULD be. But it isn’t.

And as a result, the winner in this state will not be a Republican.