If McGinn Is Elected, a Mayoral Model to Follow?
With the latest King 5 poll indicating a very tight race in today's mayoral face-off between Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan, we may not know the outcome for weeks, depending on how long it takes to count the mail-in ballots. One thing we do know: McGinn has made his "Mike Bikes" mantra central to his campaign. (Especially after that flip-flop on the tunnel.) Okay, then! Mike bikes. He owns several of them. He rides to campaign rallies, neighborhood meetings, and press conferences. We get the idea already. And he certainly seems more competent on two wheels than outgoing mayor Greg Nickels (though not quite so hardcore as former King County Exec and STP rider Ron Sims).
But if McGinn pedals to victory, here's the bicycle friendly politician he should emulate: London mayor Boris Johnson, who, the Guardian reports, "rescued a woman from three 'feral kids' who were wielding an iron bar, chasing them away on his bicycle." On his bicycle? Feral kids? Badass! The woman Johnson rescued--a documentary filmmaker, no less--called him "my knight on a shining bicycle." Top that, McGinn. (After the jump, a short photo gallery of Seattle pols on bikes...)
McGinn: possibly the next and most bicycle friendly mayor of Seattle? (No image of Mallahan on a bike could be found; but that doesn't mean he can't ride one.) Below: an outbound Nickels looking wobbly on the sidewalk; and a more confident Sims on his roadie.
3 comment(s)
Beren says:
I honestly do not understand this obsession with bicycles.
I know a LOT of people who ride bicycles and NONE of them are fit to run this city, including this n00b who wants to wipe his behind with our state constitution.
Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 3 2009 @ 1:39PM
ralph says:
You missed the real biking politician: Tom Carr. I see him biking all the time, but he doesn't make it some kind of political stunt like McGinn, whose gut is not something found on a real biker.
Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 3 2009 @ 4:43PM
DDD Seattle says:
This is just plain fun -- thanks for the article!
Posted On: Wednesday, Nov. 4 2009 @ 8:26AM