Thoughts From Seattle

A few notes from my week in Seattle (which overall was a great week):

I finished one great book and started and finished another. The first, "Watergate: The Hidden History: Nixon, the Mafia, and the CIA," by Lamar Waldron, was a total slog to get through, but fascinating. He connects the plots on Castro, which started in 1960 at the end of Nixon's terms as VP, to Watergate in 1972, and everything in between, in a coherent, albeit incredible, fashion. The second, "Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy," by Christopher Hayes of The Nation and MSNBC, connects the rise of the meritocratic society to the ever increasing disparity of wealth and income, and political influence. All in all, his theory, in my humble opinion, is well conceived, and does a great job explaining and defending it. 

Seattle is an amazing contrast to Phoenix. SUV's barely exist. Politically, it's solid D. There were countless Obama signs and signs for Jay Inslee, the D candidate for Governor, but virtually none for their opponents. But then we took a ride through the Cascade Mountains to go rafting one day, and the political landscape did a total 180. Absolutely solid R once you drive 100 miles east of Seattle. The contrast was incredible.

Last Tuesday was primary day in Washington, which really was the only disappointment of the trip for me. My friend, Darcy Burner, lost her primary. They use a top two system in Washington, and the D who made the general over Darcy self-funded a huge ad campaign in the closing weeks. It's a disheartening result. This was Darcy's third try. She lost narrowly in 2006 and 2008 to a back bencher Republican incumbent in a district that leaned to the right. I got to know her in 2008, along with about 20 other challengers running in that cycle. She has unlimited leadership potential and total courage of her convictions. She was one of the youngest of our class of challengers in 2008, yet most of us looked at her as a role model. It's unfortunate not only for Washington but really for all of us that she hasn't made it to Congress. She would have been one of the best. 

Enough about Seattle. I'll be back later to talk about Mitt and his understudy from the Adam's Family soon.