Some first thoughts...

...about the returns.

Good to see the generally positive atmosphere for Democrats from coast to coast, ranging from our new Governors in Virginia and New Jersey to the rebuke of the Governator's 'reforms' in California.

Closer to home, I'm proud of my fellow Washingtonians for acting like grownups and rejecting I-912. No one loves the gas tax, I suppose, but repealing it at the expense of projects critical to public safety and economic health in our state would have reflected the self-absorption of a three year old.

The other truly onerous initiative, the mutant offspring of big insurance and big medicine wrapped in a shiny package labeled 'tort reform' and promoted through a media campaign that stopped just short of declaring "First, let's kill all the lawyers," failed as well.

The initiative calling for new audit regulations is largely redundant due to the actions of the Democratic legislature in the last term, and the passage of a statewide smoking ban that extends to all bars, restaurants, bowling alleys and, well, pretty much everywhere, was hardly a surprise given the pariah status that nicotine addicts have these days.

(Yep, that's right. The Cabin Tavern, a Richmond Beach landmark since 1933, will soon be a smoke-free establishment. Thirteen taps, a fine selection of bottled beers, great food...y'all come!)

The two partisan races on my ballot, for King County Executive and King County Council, were both solid victories for the Democratic candidates. Though it was suggested that Ron Sims might be in for a close race, he outpolled the Republican by about fifteen percent, even with five percent of the progressive vote going to the Green candidate.

Bob Ferguson was in the 75% range the last time I looked, reflective of the safe Democratic district that was created during the Council reorganization from 13 to 9 districts.

None of my Port picks were successful, and at this point I'm just one for four on my City Council choices (congratulations to Keith McGlashan). I'm still holding out some hope for Janet Way, who was trailing by just 12 votes when Records and Elections closed down for the night. It might take days of mail ballot counts to know the outcome. I'll be keeping track.

Good for Democrats, pretty much status quo for the Port, at least one, maybe another, refreshing new face on my local City Council, a couple of big, bad bullets dodged on the initiative front.

First reaction? Not bad. Pretty good, actually.

But now, to bed...