1. An invite to a Metropolitan Democratic Club fundraiser for Peter Steinbrueck at the Ballard Locks this Sunday gave the impression that U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott had endorsed Peter Steinbrueck.

A subsequent email from hosts of the event, like City Council member Nick Licata said:

2. Mayoral candidate State Sen. Ed Murray (D-43, Capitol Hill) gave two different answers at two different candidate forums in one night this week about district elections. At the downtown library during the CityClub debate on Tuesday night he said he supported them. A couple of hours later, at the Showbox during Candidate Survivor, he said he didn't.

Asked to explain, his campaign says Murray likes districts in theory (currently all city council positions are at large), but he opposes the specific proposal that's on the ballot this November because he thinks the way the lines are drawn dilutes minority votes.

The two election reform campaigns putting measures on the ballot this fall to address, in part, what they see as a money advantage for incumbents, are both in the red. Here's a map of the seven-districted and two-at-large proposal.

3. Speaking of the districts proposal: Isn't it weird (or fitting maybe), that the two election reform campaigns putting measures on the ballot this fall to address, in part, what they see as a money advantage for incumbents— Charter Amendment 19, the districting proposal, and the public financing measure that the council sent to voters late last month (which would provide public matching dollars to candidates)—are both in the red.

Seattle Districts Now, which, as Erica has reported,  is being mostly financed by North Seattle businesswoman Faye Garneau (she has contributed $158,000 out of the $175,000 raised) is $113,789 in the hole and Fair Elections Seattle is $30,338 in the hole.  

4. I enjoyed the Candidate Survivor circus on Tuesday night, but a 22-year-old Seattle Weekly writer (Candidate Survivor is aimed at young voters), found the whole thing "asinine" and wanted to "barf."

As a 22-year-old, I knew I was supposed to be clapping and cheering along with everyone when we found out that some candidates prefer Tupac to Biggie. I knew I was supposed to boo when we found out that Joey Gray had never been to a show at the Vera Project.

But, I didn’t.

I just sat there, and felt a little gross about myself and what people must think young voters are like. 

...

It was incredibly disheartening to watch our mayoral candidates reduced to fez-wearing monkeys in order to appeal to “my demographic.” It was sad to see them have to dance around for me. I don’t need them to play acoustic guitar or do magic tricks in order to figure out who I want to vote for. But lo and behold, there is Peter Steinbrueck in a cape, doing magic tricks, for the youth. When actual questions were asked, the candidates were given thirty seconds to a minute to answer. The panelists got more talk time than the actual candidates.

It's a refreshingly contrarian blog post in a town that's too self-satisfied.

5. There's another mayoral debate tonight. This one is on KCTS TV 9 at 7:00 PM.

6. We asked the Cola intern to pay a surprise visit to the mayoral candidates' campaign headquarters and gauge their field operations.

Check out Carryn's article, which we publieshed late yesterday, here.