Well, the Primary has come and gone. I finally decided to choose the mischief route, and for yesterday I was a Republican.

I'd be interested to hear some thoughts from the assembled folks here at PP - Politics.

1. Did you vote? If not, was it due to a protest of the new system or some other reason?

2. Do you think the results would have been different under the old blanket primary system? (I for one, think not)

3. Can we take anything away from this for the November General in regards to the numbers who stated they were Dems as opposed to Reps?

I voted. For a primary, I am not going to get too worked up about being forced to vote for a party. After all, it is a party based system of downselecting the candidates for those parties.

Every time I vote, I am reminded that it takes work to research candidates and issues to make good decisions.

No big deal. I thought the repub numbers where high.

1. Did you vote? If not, was it due to a protest of the new system or some other reason?
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Yes--Absentee

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2. Do you think the results would have been different under the old blanket primary system? (I for one, think not)
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Yes, it seems that even though we're the minority party (Republican) it seems that the projected turn out was lower than expected.

I suspect this is the libertarian streak of some of those on the right that don't like to be legally forced to do anything (I think wearing helmets while riding motorcycles is a smart thing to do--but I don't like being legally forced to do it by Helmet laws!).

Also, Ron Simms and other (D) candidates that polled well in the Seattle Metro area, but didn't poll so well outside the I-5 corridor did a lot of 'get out the vote' work.
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3. Can we take anything away from this for the November General in regards to the numbers who stated they were Dems as opposed to Reps?
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There's no dought about it that the Dem's have a majority of votes in the state---I think how close the presidential race is on Nov. 2nd will either benefit R's on the state and local level if Bush has what is perceived as an insurmountanle lead and D's don't turn out--Or just the opposite and benefit the D's if the presidential race is a nail biter and the D's turn out in big numbers.

I think Dave Reichert wins in the 8th either way.

I think Patty Murry is vulnerable to Nethercutt if he runs an effective campaign.

I would lick envelopes and knock on doors until my hands bled to see Cassidy defeat Baghdad Jim McDoormat--but I'm not holding my breath.

The Rossi/Gregoire race will be the most interesting race to watch.

I voted. I wasn't worked up by the new system to begin with. I registered Democrat for the first time in my voting life (22 years) and not just to be mischevious.

I don't think the new system changed the overall outcome very much either. In fact, I believe it probably increased turnout just because of the fact that it was so well publicized.

I disagree on the Murray/ Nethercutt race RB. I think PM will still pull it out in November... but then again GN did unseat very popular speaker of the house Tom Foley back in '94 so I guess anything could happen?

I too will be watching the Rossi / Gregoire race with much interest.

Reichert / Ross? The ONLY sure thing about that race is that Dave will win!

Has Sidran conceded the AG race to Senn yet?

eddie....If you pretended to be a Republican you must be one of the reasons your buddy Ron Simms got trounced so bad????

Yep voted the Demo Ticket for Gov, U.S Senator, and other State offices where there was oposition Checked the Write-in Box and Wrote in "NONE OF THE ABOVE"

Grandpa, Good to hear from ya!!! It looked like Ron needed quite a few thousand more "buddies" yesterday. :rolleyes: I would have been fine with either of the Dems and Rossi will get a good, long look from me.

One thing about Sims though, you got to admit he put himself out there with the Income Tax proposal. I loved the elimination of the B & O tax.