Election Night 2009: King Co. Executive race, Constantine leads

(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:

JenV November 3, 2009 (8:46 pm)

love Dow and very happy he’s ahead..but isn’t it a little early to be giving a speech?

JenV November 3, 2009 (8:59 pm)

ok, maybe not too early. god, watching Susan Hutchison is painful. she’s an idiot. YAY DOW!!!

OP November 3, 2009 (8:59 pm)

“for what is right … for King County.”

Like running a deficit and closing parks and approving a the light rail system that’s not meeting ridership expectations and cost us, what, $3-4 billion (with a B)? That’s right? Hmmmmm….

WSB November 3, 2009 (9:09 pm)

Jen – on one hand you could say, don’t count anything till it’s over – but on the other hand, I have covered almost a quarter century of election nights and if it’s not within a few percentage points in the first vote count, it seldom turns around. “Never say never,” of course! – TR

Living in West Seattle since 1985 November 3, 2009 (9:11 pm)

YAY!

miws November 3, 2009 (9:32 pm)

KIRO is airing full coverage on their sub-channel 7.2.

Saw Dow speak, :cool: and few minutes later, Hutchison. She’s not yet ready to concede, and apparently won’t give an official statement until tomorrow.

She did reiterate her claims of Dow running a negative campaign, :eyeroll: and frankly, sounded a bit angry and bitter.

Mike

I. Ponder November 3, 2009 (9:43 pm)

Light Rail is the best investment the greater Seattle area has made in many years. Investment in the future, unless you also don’t believe in the future.

John Bull November 3, 2009 (10:06 pm)

I agree with you, I. Ponder. The current LR line is just a start. If you look at a map of the London Underground, you can see how a series of different lines can cover a city well. We can do the same thing with light rail. Think a scheme like the ‘Tube’, but on the surface. Anyone who has been to a European city with a decent Metro system (London, Paris) can see how well a comprehensive public transportation system can work. When I’m in London, I have no use for a car (even though I’m quite comfortable driving on the right or left sides of the road). The problem is that we Americans are terribly ‘car-centric’, and have only recently had to face the true social cost of using horribly inefficient cars for personal urban transportation. If we have focus and discipline, we can have an efficient transportation system as well. That will make us a true ‘world class’ city, not having some damn-fool sports teams.