Last week, both incumbent Mayor Mike McGinn and one of his rivals, City Council member Bruce Harrell, released cable TV spots, McGinn spending $60,000 to buy up time between now and the August 6 primary and Harrell spending $24,000 for a two-week run. (State Sen. Ed Murray's campaign will begin airing a cable ad on Wedenesday.)

Meanwhile, longshot candidate Charlie Staadecker released a YouTube video today. It's a spoofy spot, riffing off a Dos Equis ad. Staadecker explains:

"From the beginning, I have said that political campaigns do not need to be boring. More citizens will get involved and vote if there is an element of fun introduced into the process."

Using the Dos Equis format, he throws some hard punches at McGinn, accusing the mayor of flip-flopping (a reference to McGinn's pledge to stop fighting the tunnel, we imagine) and boasting that Staadecker is a man "who actually listens when being spoken to. Imagine that."

I'm not sure we can attribute Staadecker's odd statement "When I do [run for mayor of Seattle], I will fix the problems we face everyday," but Staadecker, a real estate broker with little chance of making it through the primary, seems to be having fun.

And the inspiration: