Paul Queary

Billboards went up recently painting Brown and Betsy Wilkerson, a city council member running for council president, as soft on crime. 

It looks like a crowd on the leftward edge of the race that would seem to benefit Kevin Van De Wege, who figures to be the choice of timber industry interests who would prefer more industry-friendly management of the state’s forests.

The biggest question about Mullet’s campaign is whether he’s got a real shot to get out of next August’s primary, given the presence of Attorney General Bob Ferguson and former U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert. 

Look for Bob Ferguson to get a solid two cycles of good pub out of this, for which the Ferguson campaign will spend exactly nothing.

Ferguson’s fundraising machine is working to create a sense of inevitability among the political donor class in aid of choking off the flow of money to opposition campaigns. With just under a year before the 2024 primary, he’s got a nearly 7-1 advantage.

Fat-cat money seems to have done the trick in helping establishment candidates in Seattle, but pro-business incumbents in Spokane and Whatcom are struggling.

The fact that the state labor council gave Ferguson a prime speaking spot speaks volumes.

Perhaps no politician here is more exposed to the Trump conundrum than Reichert, who will have to wear his voting record during the first two years of that administration in a state where the former president and likely nominee is deeply unpopular.

Some candidates have a lot of money already; others are saving up for later expenditures; still others have deep-pocketed donors to tap in the future.

It’s not clear who’s behind this survey. It’s most likely some deep-pocketed player looking for a horse to back that isn’t Attorney General Bob Ferguson, the presumptive front-runner.