1. Mayor McGinn is looking inevitable. Although an estimated 30,000 votes remain to be counted, Joe Mallahan would have to win 54 percent of those votes to take the lead—and late ballots have consistently favored McGinn. The Mallahan camp did not return a call this weekend asking whether Mallahan planned to concede, whether he would wait until all the votes were in, or whether he planned to challenge King County Elections' decision to reject (at least initially) 4,700 ballots whose signatures didn't match the ones on file at the county.

2. SHARE, the homeless advocacy group that started Tent City, plans to resume sleeping outside city council members' houses. The group spent two weeks camping outside the houses of city council members and Mayor Greg Nickels earlier this fall to protest the council's refusal to give them bus tickets to and from shelters without attaching a stipulation that SHARE keep its shelters open all year. A half-dozen SHARE members contacted PubliCola during and after the protests, saying that SHARE was compelling shelter and Tent City residents to participate or lose their shelter beds.

Although SHARE representatives denied people were being forced to sleep outside officials' houses, SHARE memos indicated that's exactly what happened. In one, SHARE's Direct Action Work Group informs residents of SHARE's indoor shelters that they must "make a decision by majority vote: SHUT DOWN or SLEEP OUT." A separate memo goes on to stipulate exactly how many people from each shelter and Tent City are required to sleep out each night.

Last week, the group sent out yet another memo indicating that shelter residents will again be required to sleep out or lose their shelter beds. The memo, dated November 6, tells shelter residents that although the protests are "NOT mandatory," the alternative is to "take a hiatus from SHARE"—that is, find somewhere else to sleep during the time of year when shelters are crowded because of the rain and cold—"and come back when it is over with absolutely NO penalty whatsoever. Shelters may also elect to close down rather than participate."

Barring what SHARE calls "a miracle," the voluntary-in-name-only protests will resume in five weeks, starting with Council Member Tom Rasmussen.

3. The Washington Post called out Congressman Dave Reichert (R-8) for taking one of the "toughest votes, politically" against health-care reform on Saturday. The Post 's Chris Cillizza noted that Reichert's suburban Eastside district "continues to move further and further from his party (a 15 point win for Obama in 2008)," and that "Democrats continue to run well-funded challengers" against him. This year, Reichert is being challenged by Suzan DelBene, a Microsoft VP with deep pockets and a strong fundraising operation.

4. Meanwhile, three other members of Washington State's congressional delegation—Jim McDermott (D-7), Jay Inslee (D-1), and Norm Dicks (D-6)—will be touring Swedish Hospital today and talking to hospital officials and the press about the legislation passed Saturday.

5. PubliCola welcomes advertising director Kristy Sandeen, who officially starts today. Kristy comes to us from the Seattle Times, where she specialized in online sales. Interested in advertising with PubliCola? Contact her at [email protected].

This morning's Morning Fizz is brought to you by Worldchanging.