West Seattle professor Richard Curtis to launch U.S. Senate run

Noontime tomorrow at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, West Seattle-residing philosophy professor Dr. Richard Curtis meets the media to launch his run for U.S. Senate – the latest local resident jumping into a political bid this year. But he says it’s not politics as usual – he’s running against incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Patty Murray as an independent, and since it’s our state’s first U.S. Senate race under the “Top Two” primary system, his news release notes, “Everything about elections has changed. There is no ‘spoiler’ issue as this will be a head-to-head race about ideas. The two major parties will not be able to drag out their tired, old ‘lesser evil’ arguments. The people can freely vote their values knowing that the top two vote-getters will go on to the general election.” More on Dr. Curtis’s campaign after his news conference tomorrow. (Thanks to Michael for the tip.) ADDED EARLY THURSDAY: At Youngstown, we asked the candidate about the major difference(s) between him and incumbent Sen. Murray:

José March 24, 2010 (1:29 am)

I like his platform as he lays it out in his website. I’d like to vote for him but before I did, I would want an unequivocal statement that he is NOT a Tea-Party’r.
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If that is the case, then I would work to get him elected.

mdeh March 24, 2010 (4:49 am)

“There has been a great deal of talk lately about broken government.” Per his website.

The **ONLY** thing broken about the government is a totally dysfunctional and destructive Republican party.And let me suggest that **when** the Dems finally had enough of this, one of the **biggest** legislative acts occurred within a pretty short order!….only to be opposed by our “independent” thinking AG.
Who do you think will benefit from this? Patty Murray, of all people, has done a damn good job for Washington. Yes…the Dems made a mistake, trying to work with a party whose only goal is to get back in power. Perhaps, one should cast one’s mind back to October of 2008 and ask oneself if one wishes to go back to the “do not touch my profits, but share all my losses” philosophy of GWB! There have been many attempts to break the 2 party system, but many of these are thinly disguised veils for a hidden agenda. So, before we rush off to unseat someone who actually cares, we had better be damn sure that we do not end up with another “Rob McKenna” type “Independent”. The road to hell, as many know, is paved with good intentions.

Near Alki March 24, 2010 (9:44 am)

My personal (probably unpopular) choice will be to go down the ballet; paying no mind to the “R” or “D” following each candidate’s name searching only for the word “incumbent”. Once I find the incumbent I will vote for their challenger, whoever that may be…D or R or other. As matter of fact, prior to the election I will financially $ support the above mentioned challenger(s). Polls suggest approximately 77% of Americans DISAPPROVE of the job Congress is doing and 60% believe America is still on the WRONG track. Let’s see if American Voters are “toothless lions” or lockstep party loyalists. If I were forced to bet, sadly, I’d place it on the former as opposed to the later.

waguy March 24, 2010 (12:55 pm)

Curtis does not appear to be a tea-bagger, if we can believe an email I received today from Curtis:

“People of good will who support universal single-payer health care (as I do) and oppose endless irrational wars (as I do) can vote their values because their lesser evil candidate is safe.”

“Since I don’t respect big corporations, it seems likely they will not be interested in funding my efforts to have them de-recognized as people (only human beings are people).”

I’ll be doing more research to see if he is what he claims. I like what he says so far, so we’ll see.

Ex-Westwood Resident March 24, 2010 (1:18 pm)

waguy,
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I happen to be a “Tea Party” member and I would appreciate it you DID NOT USE a derogatory term such as “tea-bagger”.
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I HAVE NEVER AND WILL NEVER HAVE A MAN”S SCROTUM IN MY MOUTH. WHICH IS THE DEFINITION OF A TEA BAGGER.
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E-WR

waguy March 24, 2010 (2:53 pm)

E-WR,

Correction: Curtis does not appear to be a tea party adherent…

miws March 24, 2010 (2:55 pm)

E-WR, I can’t speak for waguy, but up until a few weeks ago I had no idea the term “tea-bagger” had a derogatory definition, until I visited Dori Monson’s Blog, and he was all up in arms because a State Rep, or some such politician had used the term publicly.

Whether this man that used the term knew of it’s derogatory meaning or not, I don’t know. But, of course, Dori was having a fit at how “mean” this guy was.

Now, although I don’t recall discussing the tea partiers much before hearing the derogatory meaning, if I had, I certainly could have very innocently used that term.

So, again, whether the State Rep, and/or waguy intentionally used the term to be offensive, I don’t know. However, I have heard of instances of tea-partiers using offensive racial terms. Not saying all tea-partiers have the same bigoted beliefs, but, I take a hell of a lot more offense to racial term, even though I’m not a member of a minority race, than to the derogatory term for tea-partiers, even if offense is intended, due to the simple fact that race is something that is not chosen. Political beliefs are.

Mike

OP March 24, 2010 (3:11 pm)

Only in Vermont do third party candidates stand a chance of winning a Senate seat. Professor, do yourself a favor if you want to have ANY shot in a state this size: run as a Dem.

Phil Mocek March 24, 2010 (5:26 pm)

I was at the press conference today. Richard is running as an independent, considers himself a Green, and intends to get the endorsement of the Washington State Libertarian Party. Someone asked him about the Tea Party movement, and while I’m unable to recall his response in its entirety, I felt it was clear that he’s not affiliated with them. He said that the leaders of the movement don’t seem to be interested in challenging our two-party system, but that the people who attend the Tea Party events seem very interested in doing so.

Linde Knighton March 25, 2010 (1:05 pm)

Richard and I have had many discussions about the issues. Having seen the state R and D party leaders in action, I don’t see ANY R or D candidate being able to speak their actual mind, or act on any new ideas.
The Republicans will talk about the deficit, and yet have no idea what to do about it. And the Democrats will proudly point out their half-baked
accomplishments to prove how much they are doing for the people.
The only way out is to vote in an Independent who can do as they say.

Juan March 26, 2010 (2:22 pm)

Tea Bagger? That’s what I heard the tea party wanted to be called and started out as. I think the whole confusion is quite apropos actually!

Perhaps the obstructionists can take over and redefine the other term. Certainly there are those (yes, out neighbors) who would argue that it is not a derogatory term. O–8