Carlson won't run in 8th District (Dunn's seat) | Seattle P-I

[Ediacara]

Wednesday, February 4, 2004

Carlson won't run in 8th District
Talk-show host surprises some in GOP by declining

By NEIL MODIE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Conservative radio talk-show host John Carlson, a Republican, took himself out of the wide-open race for Congress from the 8th District yesterday and endorsed King County Sheriff Dave Reichert, an unannounced but likely candidate.

Reichert, 53, whose office is non-partisan but who says he is a Republican, is acting as though he is preparing to run to succeed Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Bellevue. After 12 years in office, she surprised the local political community Friday by announcing at a Mercer Island reception that she isn't seeking re-election.

The sheriff has scheduled a noon news conference in Bellevue tomorrow to announce whether he will run to succeed Dunn. That isn't the way a politician typically announces he isn't a candidate for another office.

More at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

[Barad Simith]

1. That's too bad

He has neither the experience nor the gray matter to win an election. A run by any of these local right-wing talk show hosts is a guaranteed win for the Democrats.

[Ediacara]

2. I was hoping that he'd run too

He's a complete nut-job without charisma or smarts. Reichart will be tough to beat, although he's equally a blowhard.

Wait a second though...... wasn't Reichart rumored to be running for Seattle mayor in 2001 (never happened)? Seattle and the 8th district don't overlap, so how could he be rumored to run for both?

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

3. doesnt matter ...

You needn't be a resident of the congressional district you represent; you only need to be a resident of the state.

[Ediacara]

4. Are you serious?

How crazy is that!?

[maxsolomon]

5. who are the dems going to run?

they need some gravitas up against reichert - he can trot out ridgeway (albeit 15 years & multiple deaths late).

"The only announced Democratic candidate for Dunn's seat is former RealNetworks executive Alex Alben of Mercer Island, who has been running for about six months."

a "former real networds executive" isn't going to cut it - this seat is ripe for the plucking. are there ANY democrats on mercer island?

[Ediacara]

6. Alben is seen by the state party as a strong candidate

Two other names that may join in are Heidi Berends-Bennedict, who had been Dunn's perenial challanger in the past, and Tony Ventrella, who is a local sportscaster and had been rumored to be in the running in 2002.

[Missy Vixen]

7. Uh-oh

>Two other names that may join in are Heidi Berends-Bennedict, who had been Dunn's perenial challanger in the past, and Tony Ventrella, who is a local sportscaster and had been rumored to be in the running in 2002.<

Heidi Behrens-Benedict is not a candidate, no matter how many times she files. I realize that there are those here who will consider me unreasonably bitter about Ms. Behrens-Benedict, but she doesn't have the common sense to be a political candidate.

The first time she ran, my husband and I signed up to do volunteer phone banking. The only thing we were pretty explicit on was no fundraising on the phone. (I've done hundreds of hours of phone banking in the past, but didn't have the training to raise money.) We arrived at the location the night Bill Clinton was giving his speech to the nation about Monica Lewinsky, and were told to "get on the phones" with several others. The candidate was at another location. She made several calls to the organizer that night directing that we were to "continue calling".

I spent a lot of years as a secretary. I was used to unpleasant callers, especially those trying to contact a co-worker who wouldn't return their calls for whatever reason. At the same time, I have never encountered the vitriol and verbal abuse we got that evening, and we were calling other Democrats.

After a couple of hours of this, I hung up my phone, gathered my things, and whispered to my husband that I'd had enough. The organizer told me that I "had to stay". I told him that no, we didn't, we were leaving, and to tell his candidate that we wouldn't be voting for her.

Tony Ventrella declined when the state party asked him to run against Dunn previously; he will not do fundraising.

The Democrats need to field a strong candidate, and they need to retake this seat.

Julie