McGinn's Secret: One Issue, No Money...the Beard?
What is even more remarkable about Mike McGinn's current lead in the Seattle mayoral race - aside from being, in great deal, a one-issue candidate, opposing the proposed $6-billion deep-bore downtown tunnel - was that he got his message out with a comparatively shoestring budget. In the last month alone, a nervous Mayor Greg Nickels blew a $66,000 wad on TV and mailings, almost in the range of what McGinn's campaign took in and spent from its very inception ($78,000). 
Yet Nickels, who spent more than $587,000 (and is in debt by $27,000 because of the last-minute ad blitz) is running third. More vote counting, and possible recounting, is ahead, but Joe Mallahan also greatly outspent McGinn - $400,000, leaving him $55,000 in the hole - and has manged to trail the Bearded One, too. To top it off, McGinn overspent his funds by a mere $500 - a debt his supporters had likely covered, along with the bar tab, after the first results began pouring in last night.
3 comment(s)
Seely says:
One possible further explanation I heard last night from a political insider was that Nickels made a colossal mistake by even engaging McGinn on the Viaduct issue, giving McGinn an avenue to reach voters he would have otherwise not reached through free media.
Posted On: Wednesday, Aug. 19 2009 @ 10:29AM
Voted For The Bearded One says:
It would mean replacing one rolly-polly mayor with another, but the difference stops there - along with that lovely avuncular beard!
Posted On: Wednesday, Aug. 19 2009 @ 10:38AM
Mike's the Man says:
You'll get the best of Nickels - his environmentalism - in Mike, too.
Posted On: Wednesday, Aug. 19 2009 @ 12:05PM