Article by Erik Smith. Published on Tuesday, November 02, 2010 EST.
Big Bucks, Big Questions
Campaign signs along Maple Street in Spokane.
By Erik Smith
Staff writer/Washington State Wire
OLYMPIA, Nov. 2.—Psssst! It’s election day! Pass it along!
You may have heard of it. Only a little over $100 million was spent to promote this one, by all the candidates and ballot measures in the running in this state, so it’s possible that you may have missed all the sign-waving, doorbelling, advertising and speechifying.
Truth is, at this point, there isn’t anything that has gone unsaid. Except maybe to remind you to get your by-mail ballot postmarked by midnight tonight.
Sure, there are some big questions:
n Whether this will be a night of Republican sweeps that rivals 1994. Polls show it could well be.
n Whether voters pass five business-sponsored ballot measures and deepen the state’s budget problems. Polls show it’s likely to happen.
n And whether millions of happy income-tax enthusiasts come out of the woodwork to vote for I-1098 and then send the Republicans to a crushing defeat. Absolutely nothing suggests that will happen. But that’s what some folks on the left were predicting at the start of the campaign, and it’s worth pointing out, because it seems like everyone has somehow forgotten.
n There’s a little race on the ballot for U.S. Senate, too. Involves a fellow named Rossi and a woman named Murray. Also nine congressional seats, 98 House seats and half the state Senate.
Anyway, it doesn’t make sense to belabor any of these points, because after four months of campaigning, it seems as though every point that can be made has been made, and the whole thing is going to be settled tonight anyway. So settle back and stay tuned. It’s going to be an interesting evening.
Signwaving in Olympia.
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