The fate of IRV (Instant Run-Off-Voting) in Pierce County seems already in doubt, as both Democrats and Republicans express frustration with how their supporters participated in the new system’s first electoral trial. Approved by the voters in 2006, IRV was a bi-product of electoral reformers who wanted to minimize the “spoiler effect” posed by third parties candidates while simultaneously allowing residents to “vote with their heart.” To date, Pierce County remains the only county in Washington to practice IRV, which is why it only applies to county-government seats. (To see how IRV works: click here.)

I should state now, before proceeding further, that I voted against IRV in 2006 both as a citizen and as a delegate to the Democratic County Convention. My reason for doing so was simple: while I liked the idea of giving greater ear to progressive candidates, I knew that the strength of the religious Right was such that only they could truly benefit from a system such as this. My fears have since been confirmed by the election of Dale Washam to County Treasurer.

That being said, I cannot deny that IRV is a more democratic system than what most voters have elsewhere. Blaming said system is a poor argument for politicians who failed to receive enough votes to carry them into office.  I contend that no matter who won this election, somebody would have been upset with the results and looked for a scapegoat in the new IRV system.

In a farewell address to his supporters, defeated Democratic contender for Pierce County Executive – Calvin Goings’ – urged fellow Democrats to “do some real soul searching on how we run and win in a Ranked Choice Voting environment. Clearly the Republicans have already thought this through.” Mr. Goings assault on IRV was so thorough it reminded me of Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech: “I am deeply concerned that in a Democratic year of change it appears that because of Ranked Choice Voting, Pierce County will be a red mark on a blue state.” Obviously the fact that the Pierce County GOP not only gained seats in IRV races but also in the now seemingly uncontroversial top-two primary contests doesn’t seem to phase Mr. Goings. If IRV is to blame, then how do we explain: Randi Becker, Bruce Dammeier, Mike Carrell? Plus, Tim Eyman’s near token win with I-985?

On the other side of the coin is Joyce McDonald, who despite winning her county council race and effectively filling Goings seat, has already expressed her desire to end IRV in Pierce County. McDonald believes that, were it not for IRV, Republican candidate Shawn Bunney would now be county executive – effectively nullifying Goings aforementioned complaint.

Personally, I think the only electoral reform we should be considering at the moment is to abolish poll-voting in favor of an absentee-only or oral caucus system.  But what do I know.  I just vote here.

While they may have received a trouncing on the national scene, at least the Pierce County Republican Party not only successfully retained all their local legislative seats (including Congressman Dave Reichert and State Senator Mike Carrell) it looks like they also ousted six-term State Senator Marilyn Rasmussen with Randi Becker – effectively transforming the 2^nd LD into Pierce County’s big red bulge.

The most recent IRV results suggest that the GOP did exceptionally well in county government races too, including: keeping at least one Bush in office – County Councilmember Roger Bush that is – plus adding former State Representative Joyce McDonald to the council to fill Calvin Goings old seat, effectively giving the local Republican Party a five out of seven seat majority on the county council. It also looks likely that Pierce County Crazy candidate, Dale Washam, will be our new County Treasurer. I’ve never met Mr. Washam but if the rumors are true, GOD HELP US ALL!

As for the highly competitive Pierce County Executive Race, all informed sources continue to say that the race between Democrat Pat McCarthy and Republican Shawn Bunney is too close to call.

On the whole the GOP did exceptionally well in Pierce County, despite having lost to Senator Obama and more significantly Governor Gregoire, who lost Pierce to Dino Rossi in 2004.

The GOP did surprisingly well elsewhere in the state too. The Tacoma News Tribune’s Joe Turner is now predicting that the Democrats will lose 3 seats in the State House, reducing their margin of control from a 63-35 majority to a 60-38 seat lead.

How do we account for such successes despite the political climate of the past few months? It’s hard to say. Perhaps the Democrats spent too much time and capital worrying about the governor’s race to give their other candidates the attention they needed. Perhaps local media outlets with fairly conservative bents – such as the TNT – were able to provide the GOP with the right quotes and endorsements to give local candidates the ammunition they needed to sway a by-and-large uninformed electorate. Perhaps the many failures of the Democratic State Legislature to move on key issues in swing districts – such as finalizing a location for the U.W. North Campus – disenchanted independents in those districts, whilst the conservative leadership of Speaker Chopp made progressive Democrats resentful and unwilling to vote down the ticket.

Then again, perhaps the local parties failed to effectively implement a campaign strategy that moved beyond the traditional grassroots approach to voter-outreach. In an increasingly insulated America, defined by privatization of the public sphere via I-PODS and sterilizing personal contact through gmail chats and finding friendship on Facebook, the act of knocking on a stranger’s door or even calling one on the phone feels incredibly intrusive. Or maybe the Democrats’ timid approach to change makes their message too hollow for voters to hear.

Whatever it is, the State Democratic Party will need to change. Yes, they have much to celebrate. On the one hand, they still have majority’s in both houses of the State Legislature and they fended off a serious assault on the Governor’s Mansion that would have succeeded had the national party nominated anyone but Barack Obama for president. They also successfully ousted incumbent Doug Southerland from his office as State Lands Commissioner, effectively capturing every partisan state office save for Secretary of State (universally considered the least important of the aforementioned offices) and Attorney General (which will be a major problem for the Democrats in 2012 should Rob McKenna run for governor.) But on the other hand, the GOP made significant gains in key counties at the local level – thereby securing an important foothold that will allow them to vet competitive candidates for statewide office in 2012. In other words, while the Democrats may be riding high today – unless they act decisively and progressively on the important economic and infrastructural issues facing this state – the future probably belongs to the GOP, provided they are able to promise more than tax-breaks to voters.

President Obama

It’s official, the Democrats have won in the greatest presidential landslide since 1992, proving once again that unless the country’s in a severe economic crisis, we don’t have a shot of winning this thing.  After eight solid years of mismanaged campaigns marked by inconsistent veiled messages, I was beginning to believe that pigs would need to grow wings to carry one of our boys (or Hillary/Pelosi) into the White House.  Instead, all it took was two wars, a broken economy, a hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast and a celebrity candidate.

The real question now is, will Barack Obama be content to go down in history as merely the first Black man to sit in the oval office; or will he choose to be remembered for something bigger?

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