[Editor's note, the initial quote we published here was not a Jan Drago quote. It was a quote from City Council Member Tim Burgess. We've replaced it with the correct quote from Jan Drago. Drago, by the way, has not returned our call today.]

Just two and a half months ago, City Council Member Jan Drago thought Mayor Nickels was doing a good job, and that running against his personality wasn't an option.

"You can't win a race against this mayor based on delivery. It's hard for me to conceive of running a campaign based on process and personality if you have a good record."—Jan Drago, 3/2/09,  from the  Seattle Times story "So far, no major candidate running against mayor." 

You have to wonder what changed for Drago between March 2 and this week. (She's on the verge of announcing her candidacy for mayor.)

Drago would argue, as she did yesterday when I talked her about her poll, that she was "Surprised, frankly at how low Nickels numbers were. I was surprised at how much people dislike him. They want someone else to be mayor." 

Drago says that when the polling data came back to show that she was viable (45-24 over Nickels in a head-to-head), she started seriously considering running. I asked her how she was different from Nickels on the issues.

"In a down economy people want someone with a lot of experience," she added—hinting at what may be her campaign theme.

That theme doesn't exactly distinguish her from Nickels. And moreover, she's in sync with Nickels on every major issue; except when she's actually more conservative. (She's against the bag fee that Nickels supports, and she wants to turn blue collar maritime and industrial zones on the waterfront into condo and retail developments—which union guy Nickels opposed.)

So, what gives? Well, here's a thought: something else happened between March 2 and this week. Drago didn't get the top job at the Seattle chamber of commerce she wanted.