1. Looking for a winner in last night's election? Try consultant Bill Broadhead (and his consulting firm Mercury Seattle). Broadhead was the behind-the-scenes consultant for mayoral candidate Mike McGinn (the top vote getter so far in the mayor's race) and Seattle City Council candidate Mike O'Brien (the top vote getter by a mile in the crowded Position 8 race).

Both McGinn and O'Brien lagged far behind their opponents in the money race, yet Broadhead's barrage of on-the-cheap robo calls and focused messaging helped make McGinn and O'Brien the stories of the night.

2. The biggest loser? King County Council Member Larry Phillips raised the most money in the King County Executive race ($471,603) and spent the most ($367,000—plus a $21,000 independent expenditure done on his behalf), yet he came in fourth place last night at just under 12 percent. Phillips was the first candidate to jump into the race (he officially declared last January ) after making it clear for months ("Go for it, Larry") that he wanted the job. Badly.

Honorable mention has to go to consultant Blair Butterworth who switched from mayoral candidate James Donaldson to Jan Drago mid-game. In the end, Donaldson, a former Sonic, finished ahead of Drago, a longtime city council member, coming in fourth place at 9.2 percent. Drago finished in fifth place at 7.7 percent.

3. PubliCola news editor Erica C. Barnett will be on KUOW's The Conversation today to talk about last night's results. Tune in 94.9 at 12:20. Erica will be on with U.W. political science professor Matt Barreto and Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat.

(P.S. The Conversation also tried to get King County Executive candidate, former KIRO-TV anchor and frontrunner Susan Hutchison, to go on today with her general election opponent, King County Council Member Dow Constantine. Hutchison declined.)

4. I have to say it: I told you so . Learn to trust the Cola. (I also said this! There's another vote drop today at 4:30—about 20,000 votes. We'll see if my prediction holds.)



Editor's note: Thanks Aaron, Eric, Rebecca, and Johnathon for all the great work last night.