ECB here.

Just arrived at a place with wi-fi, from Susan Hutchison's wi-fi-less party at the downtown Edgewater Hotel (so chosen*, former Fisher Communications president Bill Krippaehne told the crowd, because ex-KOMO anchor Hutchison stayed there when she first interviewed for a job at KOMO), where members of the impeccably dressed crowd (including GOP KC council member Reagan Dunn) made numerous audible jokes about how "nonpartisan" they were. (Hutchison, a Republican, has made a big deal of being the only "nonpartisan" candidate for King County Executive.)

As Aretha Franklin's "Respect" boomed over the speakers in the Edgewater's fourth-floor Olympic Ballroom, Hutchison campaign manager Jordan McCarren downloaded the numbers on his computer: 37 percent Hutchison, 22 percent Constantine, 12 percent Phillips.

An audio glitch delayed the announcement of the numbers for several minutes. When Krippaehne told the crowd the results, they exploded in deafening applause. Hutchison recalled a day of campaigning that ended with sign-waving in Seattle—"and it was so satisfying when the Metro driers would honk. I love our bus drivers. They spend so much time in congestion," Hutchison said. She went on to implore those who supported her unsuccessful Democratic opponents—Larry Phillips, Ross Hunter, and Fred Jarrett—to support her "nonpartisan" bid for office. "I intend to win those votes," Hutchison said. "No campaign has worked as hard as we have."

* Although many campaign watchers assumed Hutchison would have her event in Bellevue—where most Republicans hold their campaign events—McCarren noted that she actually lives in Laurelhurst.