(original photo replaced 9:46 pm with our clip of Constantine arriving at the podium – speech video to come) Dow Constantine vs. Susan Hutchison – results here. Constantine starts off with a big lead. We’re at his campaign party – huge cheer as the results were announced; he is not expected to speak until after 8:30. Rep. Sharon Nelson is speaking now (8:21) – saying it’s been “a long campaign against a Republican stealth candidate.” She says Dow came in and fought “for what is right … for King County.” 9:01 PM: Constantine gave an energetic, resolute speech – declaring this a “new beginning” for King County – but also exhorting Hutchison supporters to “join us.” We have it all on video from about 1 foot away (thanks to Teri from Furry Faces Foundation for assisting in crowd maneuvering!) and will upload the whole thing when we are back at HQ.
He stood next to his partner Shirley at the podium during his speech, after sharing the podium briefly with two of the state legislators who were among his primary opponents – Sen. Fred Jarrett and Rep. Ross Hunter. Now he’s giving TV interviews a few feet away from where we’re sitting in the media zone. 9:56 PM UPDATE: The crowd has gathered again here in the media zone – as the presumptive King County Executive-elect is back to give another round of interviews to TV people (and others), with the late news nearing; other camera-wielding types are starting to gather. We’ve added a video clip atop this story before finally attempting to leave the venue – his arrival at the podium, introduced by Rep. Nelson. 10:11 PM: Just talked to Constantine for a brief moment as he continues making the rounds – we noted that his presumed election means that West Seattle will remain home to one of the area’s top elected officials – he smiled, “It’s my turn to represent.” 12:20 AM UPDATE: Susan Hutchison has not conceded. Here’s the remainder of Constantine’s speech – 10 minutes, starting with some humor:
ADDED 1:33 AM: Our partners at the Times have a clip from Hutchison’s election-night remarks:
(TwitPic from McGinn campaign – new one substituted 9:13 pm) Joe Mallahan vs. Mike McGinn – results here. McGinn has a narrow edge in the early going. King County Elections is not planning to release a second vote count tonight, so the next update won’t be until tomorrow afternoon. Meantime, here’s a photo of Mallahan from independent journalist Johnathan Fitzpatrick (the Mallahan party is also at the Edgewater, where we are still at Constantine HQ – they’re two floors down) aka @jjtweets:
Johnathan says Mallahan says he “is hoping to be a successful candidate” — way too early to know how this will turn out. 10:06 PM: Adding a video clip published on YouTube by The Stranger’s crew, with McGinn speaking to supporters:
(Early Wednesday, substituted Christopher Boffoli‘s video – which starts with two West Seattleites! – for the original early-going photo that held this spot)
“Approve” means that the domestic-partnership rights law will take effect; “reject” means it won’t. Results here. Referendum 71 supporters planned a live stream from their Capitol Hill party here. Yes on 71 is ahead in the early going. WSB contributing journalist Christopher Boffoli is at the pro-71 party and says it’s jampacked. 11:44 PM: Adding more photos from Christopher. Here’s West Seattleite Anne Levinson, who chaired the Approve Referendum 71 campaign:
State Sen. Ed Murray and partner Michael Shiosaki:
Sen. Murray said, “This is the side of the mountain, not the top of the mountain. We have a lot of work to do. This is an important step but it is still not fully equality. So tonight my friends, we celebrate, but tomorrow we go back to work.”
City Attorney – West Seattle incumbent Tom Carr vs. Pete Holmes Council Position 2 – Incumbent Richard Conlin vs. West Seattle resident David Ginsberg Council Position 4 – Sally Bagshaw vs. David Bloom Council Position 6 – Jessie Israel vs. incumbent Nick Licata Council Position 8 – Mike O’Brien vs. Robert Rosencrantz
8:19 PM – Leaders after the first round of results are Holmes, Conlin, Bagshaw, Licata, O’Brien.
9:25 PM: Conlin is at the Edgewater right now at the Dow Constantine party and just said hello – long enough for us to get a photo.
All King County races (which includes Seattle city races) are linked from here.
All state races are linked from here.
For national results, we recommend MSNBC.com – go here.
That dropbox outside the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center at 5405 Delridge (map) is the one place in West Seattle you can take your ballot all the way up till 8 tonight. If you get there before 7, go inside for the Voters’ Open House and meet folks like Delridge District Coordinator Ron Angeles (left in the photo below) – cookies, coffee, and tote bags while they last.
Just before sunset, we went out to look for afternoon sign-waving (here’s who we found this morning) – nobody in Admiral when we went through; on the Fauntleroy walkover, we found county assessor candidate Bob Rosenberger with supporters:
And at 35th/Fauntleroy, kitty-corner from where West Seattle-residing King County Council Chair/County Executive candidate Dow Constantinecampaigned this morning, a supporter of his opponent Susan Hutchison stood with signs this afternoon:
Here’s the schedule for results tonight: King County plans just ONE release of results, around 8:15 pm. We will have all the major results here on the WSB main page, along with coverage from some of the biggest Election Night events, including the Constantine party at the Edgewater downtown, and the Approve Referendum 71 party on Capitol Hill. (They’ve also announced they’ll have a live video stream online – here’s a link.)
For West Seattle, the document explaining changes and “rationale” simply says the maps for West Seattle were changed to “reflect the district’s commitment to support co-location of Denny and Chief Sealth.” The district site also now has a page linking to “walk route” maps for indivdual schools. The revised maps are to be introduced at tomorrow night’s School Board meeting and voted on in two weeks; West Seattle’s board rep Steve Sundquist has a community-conversation meeting this Saturday, 1 pm at High Point Library, where he’ll field questions on this and other district/school issues. There’s also an official public hearing Nov. 9 at district HQ. More on all that and the process overall is in the official district news release, which you can download here.
First, that Google Map from greenseattle.org shows the West Seattle spots where you can join in GREEN SEATTLE DAY – which means special Saturday work parties in parks and green spaces all over the city – lots of info here, including how to volunteer! Second, it’s NORTH DELRIDGE ADOPT-A-STREET — meet North Delridge Neighborhood Council reps and neighbors at Delridge Community Centerby 10 am Saturday, have a cup of coffee, get equipment and head out to clean up the area. As Nancy Folsom put it, “The city supplies bags, gloves, reachers, and safety vests (very fashionable!), we supply the civic pride.” Third, WEST SEATTLE WILDLIFE HABITAT PROJECT fundraising plant sale! 3223 47th Ave SW (map), 10 am-3 pm Saturday, selling native plants to raise money for the project’s demonstration garden at Seacrest. P.S. You can join the WSWHP’s group on Facebookby going here.
A bit of a lull as we get ready to cover the next wave of major news later today – revised school-attendance maps (4 pm), election results (8 pm) — so if you’re looking for something new to read, check out the WSB Forums for community-powered items including:
SIDE NOTE: Not from the forums, but based largely on WSB comments – the regional news site Crosscuthas a story today about the booted-from-Lincoln-Park-moved-to-Lakewood-Park cyclocross controversy.
Two updates this morning in the aftermath of the Halloween night murder of Seattle Police Officer Tim Brenton, a former West Seattleite: SPD has just announced how you can donate to help Officer Brenton’s wife and children – go to any Bank of America branch and ask to contribute to the Brenton Family Assistance Fund. West Seattle’s B of A branches are in The Junction (4001 SW Alaska), Admiral (4323 Admiral Way), and on the east side of Westwood Village. Meantime, the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild says the reward fund in the as-yet-unsolved ambush – which also injured Officer Britt Sweeney – has now grown to $60,000. Here’s the tipline info from SPDBlotter:
Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to call either 911 or the Seattle Police Homicide Unit at 206 684-5550, or the tipline at (206) 233-5000. Those wishing to remain anonymous are encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or send a text to CRIMES (274637). Your text message should include “TIP486″ to ensure proper routing.
As for the investigation, SPD plans another media briefing in a few hours; here’s this morning’s update from the Seattle Times (WSB partner). As announced last night, Officer Brenton’s memorial will be at KeyArena this Friday, 1 pm. ADDED 2:52 PM: SPD has released a statement from Officer Brenton’s family:
“The family of Officer Tim Brenton would like to thank the community for the tremendous outpouring of support. Even with the tragic loss, Tim’s wife and children are finding solace in the support from the police community, their friends and family, and the community as a whole. We know that Tim would be honored and humbled by the limitless support that has been provided at the difficult time. We sincerely thank you for the generous emotional support, thoughts, and prayers.”
That video shows the scene this morning at the Fauntleroy/35th entrance to The Bridge – with King County Council Chair/County Executive candidate Dow Constantine joining supporters including State Sen. Joe McDermott. A bit east from there at the Fauntleroy walkover, sign-wavers included one of his top supporters:
That’s the candidate’s mom, Lois Constantine. Also on the overpass, City Council candidate David Ginsberg (shown here last night) and sign-waving on behalf of mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan:
The Constantine and Mallahan election-night parties will be at the Edgewater on the downtown waterfront – they’re among the many parties on this map compiled by West Seattle activist Brian Allen, who’s added more updates since we showed it to you early yesterday morning:
Whomever you’re voting for, tonight’s the deadline, though vote-counting will take days. You can mail it if you’re sure it’ll be postmarked today, but the really foolproof way to get it in, if you haven’t already, is via dropbox up till the 8 pm deadline; the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center (5405 Delridge) has one and will be the site of a Voters’ Open House 3-7 pm, and there’s also one at the White Center Library (full countywide list, with addresses, here). While this area (County Council District 8 in the breakout) has returned a higher percentage of ballots than any other – according to the county’s running tally – that still amounted to only 25 percent by last night.
Two school-related notes for today/tonight: First, 4 weeks after Seattle Public Schools released proposed attendance-boundary maps and then revealed the West Seattle maps had a major error, revised maps are scheduled to go public during a School Board work session that starts at 4 pm at district HQ downtown. Second, families interested in Chief Sealth High School‘s International Baccalaureate program are invited to IB Information Night tonight, 7-8:30 pm in the library – more details on the official flyer. (Sealth’s currently at 5950 Delridge but if you’re looking ahead to next year or beyond, remember it’s scheduled to move back to its own campus at 2600 SW Thistle this fall.)
Nicky from the Westenders Scooter Club e-mailed to renew the invitation to you to join them this Saturday night for “Operation Chano” – a night of fun to benefit the family of Cafe Revo (WSB sponsor) co-founder Chef Sean “Chano” Goff (photo right), who died a month ago at just 43 years old. They’re promising pasta, music, the featurette “Mondo Scooterama” and a raffle with “a treasure trove of prizes” incluing a “rare early painting by Harold Hollingsworth” — full details at westenders.org. 5 pm Saturday, Rainier Yacht Club.
Two updates this morning in the aftermath of the Halloween night murder of Seattle Police Officer Tim Brenton, a 
invitation to you to join them this Saturday night for “Operation Chano” – a night of fun to benefit the family of
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