Mr. X gets the "Comment of the Day" for really breaking down this year's confusing mayor's race, which has devolved into some barely intelligible factions. The Mike McGinn vs. Joe Mallahan standoff does not present today's warring blocs of Seattle voters (the Lesser-Seattle crowd, the urban green folks, the Whole Foods liberals, and the chamber crowd)  with a clear choice, and what's more, there have been confusing defections and overlap.

How, for example, do you explain that an anti-corporate Ralph Nader curmudgeon like John Fox seems to be supporting a literal corporate chieftan like Joe Mallahan over a bona fide neighborhhood organzier like Mike McGinn because he thinks McGinn is—as Fox likes to tag his adversaries— a "corporate liberal"?

Mr. X doesn't decode all that, but he does decipher how some Lesser-Seattle conservatives may have been misled by Mike McGinn. It's a canny bit of analysis that helps bring Seattle's political fault lines back into focus.

On today's post about  McGinn's apparent "Left-Right Coalition," Mr. X says:

7. Mr. X says:

McGinn’s mailer focused on the tax hike for a tunnel, but neglected to mention that he is also opposed to actually replacing the AWV. That fact is gonna be a deal-killer for a lot of the primary voters who supported him if they are made aware of it (that said, there isn’t majority support for any AWV option - so no matter what any candidate’s position is it will piss off a majority of Seattle voters)

08/26/2009 AT 12:34 PM