A question of perspective.

Mike Seely uses the Mossback space at the Seattle Weekly for an appraisal of his old boss (he did communications for the 2000 Cantwell campaign). He was clearly an unhappy camper...

Cantwell is far from perfect. In fact, she ranks high among the most difficult people I've ever worked for or with...a paranoid hellcat of a boss who rolls through staff like toilet paper, would make her daily sweep through the office, berating everyone in sight.

...she was not what you would call warm…

...if you were to ask Cantwell, the only person responsible for her victory over Gorton was the person who stared back at her in the bathroom mirror each morning. Her lack of gratitude and common human decency were simply repulsive…

…and from this draws a terrible conclusion...

There are plenty of good reasons for voters to withhold support from Cantwell...

Well, maybe. But not on the list of defects Seely describes. He may offer some excellent reasons to keep your resume in your pocket the next time you cross paths with the Senator, but none of that should be of critical concern to voters. My guess is that the best boss in the Senate might not make the list of the best Senators, anyway.

My own view is colored by knowing Maria personally for over 20 years, during which time I've found her consistently approachable, whether my approach was as a colleague, acquaintance or constituent. She was once helpful to me at a time I had nothing to bring to the table. I'm not sure what "warm" means to everybody, but I did see the lights shine in the eyes of a 12 year old girl after as the newly elected US Representative Cantwell took time to chat with her on election night '92. (The 12 year old was the Incomparable Elder Daughter of Upper Left. The impression stuck. You mess with Maria, you gotta go through Em.) Of course, I've never worked for her, but the point is that personality is a matter of perspective.

Whether you share Seely's perspective, mine, or one of your very own, though, I hope you join me in endorsing his final conclusion, which offers all the reasons voters should need to offer Maria Cantwell whatever support they can muster...

Whatever her personality shortcomings, she's a principled, thoughtful legislator who meets the consequences of her actions head-on and without apology. And unless antiwar activists want those consequences to be a Republican stealing her seat come November, they'd best put a sock in it.

Eyes on the prize.