(Graphic by Corey Murata/UW Election Eye)

SEATTLE — “Politics,” Alex Miller says, “is inherently uncool.”

As we sit in the urban loft headquarters of the Washington Bus, a youth-driven political advocacy organization, it sure seems like they’ve found something cool about the creaky old voting process. Maybe it’s the “Vote Bot” Robot or the foosball table.

But the Bus’s Communications Director is serious.

“It just can’t be cool,” he reiterates. “And that’s fine — it’s still super valuable. What you can do is find things that are cool and meaningful to young people, and you can figure out what’s political about them.”

The question that seems to arise every presidential election year — how do you get out the youth vote? — is once again in the local and national conversation in 2012. While the 2008 Presidential season saw a surge in youth participation as a result of the Obama campaign’s outreach and leverage of social media to reach younger voters, a recent poll from the Harvard Institute of Politics showed that only 49% of Americans age 18-29 will “definitely” vote in November. Only 22% of U.S. college students self-identify as politically active.

The majority of young voters are like Curtis Rusch, a freshman at the University of Washington. He registered to vote soon after his 18^th birthday, eager for the opportunity to vote in the 2012 presidential election. But off-year elections and smaller races or initiatives are not on his radar, or that of his friends.

“I just feel like it doesn’t make that much of a difference,” he says. “Some of those issues seem really small to us since they’re not affecting us every day, so it doesn’t pique our interest as much.”

Alan Charnley, a 26-year-old from the 32^nd district, sees that tension often in the students at Shoreline Community College that he approaches, clipboard in hand, to strike up conversation — and eventually ask them if they’re registered to vote.

The one-time summer camp counselor admits he’ll Facebook sneak-attack his former campers when they turn 18: “I’ll write, ‘Congratulations, Happy Birthday! Now go register to vote’.”

Here in Washington State, 18-24 year olds made up 12.64% of the population in 2010, but made up only 9% of total registered voters (see graphic).

So what is the trick to capturing that elusive youth vote?

Miller and the team at the Washington Bus firmly believe that apathy isn’t the main obstacle, though that tends to be the explanation in national media — that kids these days just don’t care.

“I have a tough time swallowing that, and from our experience we’ve found that really not to be true,” Miller says. “I think young people would say that there are things they really care about, but that some of the processes and actual systems, the way they work, it’s really hard to access.”

One observation the Bus has noted is that the main reason youth voters don’t vote, even if registered, is that they’re afraid they’ll make a mistake. As a result, the Bus continually focuses on education to make political processes more understandable.

The Bus also works on ways to ease the voter registration process, including pushing a bill that would allow pre-registration for those under 18 when they get their driver’s license at the DMV. It passed the House and made it to the Senate this April, but didn’t pass before the legislative session ran out during the budget debate. Still, the Bus is optimistic it will pass in 2013.

For his part, Charnley suggests giving 15 or 16 year olds the right to vote in school board or city council races, which would give them the opportunity to see how their participation has a direct effect.

“I want to get more of my generation involved,” Charnley says, “because I believe decisions are made by those who show up.”

The bus stop at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Way South and Renton Place South on a lonely weekday morning. (Photo by Kat Chow/UW Election Eye)

Changes to bus route 42, along Martin Luther King Jr. Way South, are a good example of how, despite Metro’s best efforts, service cuts are leaving South Seattle immigrants feeling neglected.

SEATTLE — Getting from point A to point B isn’t easy for 68-year-old Tuyet Mhi Mai. Especially when those points are her daughter’s crowded Lake City home and service classes or work in South Seattle.

Since King County Metro reduced the frequency of bus route 42 because it runs parallel to the Light Rail, Mai’s commute is a little more complicated and time-consuming.

For South Seattle’s public-transit-dependant immigrant communities, saving bus 42 isn’t just about one bus route. It’s about getting King County Metro and the county council to understand its transportation needs.

Representatives from King County Metro say they’re listening — or at least trying to. But the balance between providing efficient, cost-effective bus routes and meeting the needs of groups facing language and cultural barriers isn’t easy.

Vietnamese immigrant Tuyet Mhi Mai has a 2 hour commute from Lake City to Mt. Baker (Photo by Kat Chow/UW Election Eye)

Thirty-six years ago, decades before she came to the United States from Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, Mai survived a car accident that killed her husband and left her with a stiff leg. Now she walks with a cane, and even going a few blocks on foot is a struggle. So her commute to classes at Asian Counseling and Referral Services (ACRS) takes a whopping two hours each way.

“I know that I can take the Light Rail to Mt. Baker [station],” Mai said through a translator, acknowledging her roundabout route. “But I cannot walk that far [from the station to ACRS], even though it’s only three blocks.”

Instead she rides the Light Rail past Mt. Baker Station, which is only a few blocks away from ACRS, to the Columbia City Station and then catches bus 8 or 42 from there back the way she came to the bus stop right outside ACRS. But now the 42 only runs about once an hour from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, extending her commute.

Mai is probably eligible for some of King County Metro’s specialized transportation services, like the Metro Access Transportation Service, which was started to help the disabled. But she says she hasn’t heard of the program.

Her lack of awareness reflects the disconnect that some of South Seattle community groups feel between themselves and King County Metro — that their voices aren’t being heard, that concerns aren’t being met. It’s a disconnect that King County Metro is trying to fix with community outreach and dialogue.

Feeling unheard

When the Light Rail started running from Sea-Tac to Westlake Station in 2009, King County Metro planned to shuffle or axe buses with routes redundant to the rail.

A rider gets off the otherwise empty bus 42 last week. (Photo by Kat Chow/UW Election Eye)

Bus 42 was one of 30 such routes. Metro extended bus 8, which runs from Seattle Center to Rainier Beach, to support the changes made to bus 42.

But there was still rampant public outcry to keep bus 42, which ran from Skyway to the Pioneer Square area and gave service along the Martin Luther King Way South corridor — through zipcode 98118, one of the most diverse areas in the nation.

The protest came from groups like ACRS, Pacific Asian Empowerment Program (PAEP), Transportation Choices Coalition and the Filipino American Political Action Group of Washington (FAPAGOW).

“The community was caught off guard,” said Shefali Ranganathan, program director of Transportation Choices Coalition. “People showed up to their bus stop and saw it was discontinued.”

Ranganathan said that the community thought the Light Rail would be an addition to existing bus routes.

The lack of signs in other languages besides English, as well as the mile-long distance between stations, make the Light Rail less-than-desirable for some.

“Bus 42 primarily serves basically low-income [people] who don’t have a vehicle to get around,” said Celso Tolman, president of FAPAGOW.

County council members ordered Metro to defer eliminating the route until February 2013, after they had reached out to South Seattle’s communities about transportation issues.

Victor Obeso, manager of service development for King County Metro says they’re looking for ways to give better information to limited English-speaking communities and to make ORCA cards more accessible.

“We know it’s a challenge for any of our riders when we make changes to service or changes to their ridership patterns,” Obeso said. “It’s particularly challenging to immigrant communities who have limited abilities to comprehend English, or who for cultural reasons don’t connect to our customer service as other riders might.”

Bus 42, cut in both route length and frequency, runs about once an hour on weekdays. (Photo by Kat Chow/UW Election Eye)

Bus route 42, which costs about $210,000 to $300,000 a year to operate in its current route, is attracting about a hundred riders each day, according to Obeso. That’s down from the 3,500 to 3,700 boardings the old route 42, which extended from Skyway, used to see.

But people in favor of keeping or restoring route 42 say that the drop in numbers is caused by the cuts to the route — not the other way around.

An uncertain future

Finding a solution to the issue around bus 42 isn’t easy.

King County Council member Larry Gossett, who rallied to keep bus 42 intact, isn’t hopeful for the route’s future.

“Essentially it’s an uphill battle to try to change the decision at this time,” Gossett said.

King County Metro wants to encourage Light Rail ridership with more outreach and by giving access to ORCA cards. But that might not be the response the community is looking for.

“We want people to get on the Light Rail, but I think there needs to be recognition that the Light Rail isn’t always the best option for some transit-dependant people,” Ranganathan said.

Ranganathan suggests a smaller bus shuttle that can service the International District and cut down on the walk that’s uphill to the 8 or downhill to the Light Rail. She also suggests changing or adjusting existing routes to meet the needs of the community members.

“We just want the transit in South Seattle to work better for folks, because there’s clearly an unmet need.”

This post was produced in partnership with the Seattle Globalist and City Club.

The hot weather and the build up to Tuesday's primary brought out campaign t-shirts on Mother's Day weekend May 12-13, 2012 (Photo by UW Election Eye)

With Portland Mayor Sam Adams not running for re-election after one term, 23 candidates are competing for the open seat in this Tuesday’s primary election in what might be called a Hunger Games-like scenario. The two top vote-getters will go on to compete for the seat in November, unless someone wins more than 50% of the vote, in which case he or she wins the mayoral race.

UW Election Eye had the chance to catch up with the race’s three frontrunners and one alternative candidate during their last campaign weekend before the primary. With only 17% of ballots mailed in as of Friday afternoon, this was the last chance for candidates to push their get-out-the-vote efforts across the city.

Mayoral candidate Jefferson Smith speaks to a crowd of supporters after knocking on nearly 10,000 doors. (Photo by Anita Verna Crofts/UW Election Eye)

Candidate Jefferson Smith, a former state representative from East Portland, held a get-out-the-vote celebration Saturday after 188 volunteers knocked on nearly 10,000 doors just that day. The rally featured the city’s own March Fourth Marching Band.

“Politics is more like democracy when it’s more human,” said Smith, who created the Oregon BUS Project, the first of its kind in the nation. “Our campaign is at its best when it’s more driven by relationships and purpose, by a shared and common cause.”

Smith said he wasn’t sure if his campaign would make it out of the primary this Tuesday, but said the race would be “much more boring” without him.

We caught up with the other two front-runner candidates and one alternative candidate the next day at the Sunday Parkways–an event where the city closed greenspace roads to motor traffic so that families could enjoy biking and walking around an eight-mile loop encompassing four city parks. There were food carts, rock climbing walls, and outdoor activities, alongside a number of mayoral candidates vying for the opportunity to mingle with Northeast Portland voters.

Portland City Commissioner and mayoral candidate Charlie Hales takes a break from biking at Portland's Sunday Parkways event to speak with UW Election Eye. (Photo by Alicia Halberg/UW Election Eye)

“I think personal outreach will make the big difference,” candidate and City Commissioner Charlie Hales said. “We’ve held more house parties and coffee meet-ups with Portlanders and I think that will really make a difference when voters sit down to fill out their ballots this weekend.”

In a stab aimed at Commissioner Hales, candidate Eileen Brady said voters were looking for leadership on complex problems, not a career politician. She’s an entrepreneur who created Portland’s local New Seasons Markets, a local chain of Whole Foods-esque grocery stores.

But with weak turnout going into the final weekend, candidates said their campaigns were focused on final GOTV efforts.

“We’re staffing a booth at Alberta Park [at the Sunday Parkways event],” Brady said. “In the next few days we’ll be canvassing, phonebanking, blogging, tweeting, and pushing radio and television content.”

Hales had similar plans. He is campaign has knocked on more than 35,000 doors so far and plans to continue phonebanking and canvassing efforts up to the Tuesday evening deadline.

Mayoral candidate Eileen Brady and her campaign staff sported bicycle jerseys printed with the campaign logo. (Photo by Alicia Halberg/UW Election Eye)

The race is a toss-up, recent polling by The Oregonian and KING-5 affiliated news station KGW indicates Hales is in the lead with 29%, Smith following with 28% and Brady trailing with 16%.

As we interviewed Brady, a man with no shirt and a bumper sticker stuck to his chest wearing a cardboard box advertisement walked by. “That’s Cameron Whitten, he’s also running for mayor,” she said. “He’s an interesting guy, you should really talk to him.”

So we did.

Whitten, running on the campaign slogan “candidate for unity,” said that the local establishment media casts him as an alternative candidate and has focused on the three frontrunners Hales, Smith and Brady.

But he’s also been in the news. A Portland State University student, Whitten helped to organize numerous demonstrations associated with last year’s Occupy demonstrations. He was arrested four times and lived in the downtown Occupy camp for the duration of its existence, nearly 40 days.

Mayoral candidate and Occupy Portland organizer Cameron Whitten came to the biking event wearing a box and a bumper sticker. (Photo by Azusa Uchikura/UW Election Eye)

He’s been endorsed by the Pacific Green Party and the Oregon Progressive Party and cast himself as the perfect candidate in “this representative democracy.”

Whitten was up-front, giving out his personal phone number on campaign flyers and describing his background: “In this race, I’m the only queer identified person of color and youth from a low-income background.”

He advocated for a more direct-democracy type of system, saying that voters should have the opportunity to vote on reforms to the city’s charter.

Candidates said there were numerous ways Portland could work with Seattle to promote regional interests.

“[We share] common values and strategic strengths,” Smith said. “Transportation is one of those places I hope we work together on. I hope that we won’t merely be limited to unfundable highway projects, we should be looking at joint infrastructure investments such as joint seismic safety projects.”

“Seattle has done a better job at becoming an international city,” Hales said. “Both police forces have had problems with the use of force — there could be room to collaborate because Seattle and Portland are culturally similar.”

Brady said Portland and Seattle should advocate for a federal spending on a bullet train corridor stretching from Vancouver, B.C. to Eugene.

Only two candidates will progress out of Tuesday’s primary into the general election, unless one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. Polling indicates that would be an unlikely scenario, but it’s possible that this town could have a mayor-elect Tuesday night.

In Oregon, ballots must be turned in by Tuesday to a ballot drop-box. It is too late for Oregonians to mail their ballots as elections officials must receive them by Election Day; hopefully voter turnout will be as popular as the Hunger Games.

Elizabeth Wiley, Azusa Uchikura, Betsy Hauenstein, and A. V. Crofts contributed to this post.

Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) and Tom Barrett (D) will go toe to toe in upcoming recall election on June 5, 2012 (Photo courtesy of http://www.scottwalker.org/ and www.barrettforwisconsin.com/).

Walker Caught on Tape
Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) is against Tom Barrett (D) — Milwaukee Mayor who handily won the Democratic primary last week — for his June 5 recall election. The recall has received heavy national attention and national funds — approximately 2/3 of Walker’s $25 million have come from outside of Wisconsin. UW Election Eye has reported on the election before and will be in Wisconsin leading up to the election.

Recently discovered video footage of Walker has him stating a “divide and conquer” strategy against unions. In the video, Walker is speaking with billionaire Diane Hendricks in January 2011, right before he proposed a bill that curtailed unions’ collective bargaining rights. Hendricks asked: “Any chance we’ll get to be a completely red state, and work on these unions, and become a right-to-work — what can we do to help you?” Walker replied, “Well, we’re going to start in a couple weeks with our budget adjustment bill. The first step is, we’re going to deal with collective bargaining for all public employee unions, because you use divide and conquer.”

Walker has said repeatedly that he is not trying to make Wisconsin a right-to-work state, however, some have noted that his response to Hendricks suggests the beginning stages of a plan toward that end. When asked about the video, Walker has replied in Alberto Gonzales fashion, commenting, “I don’t remember the particulars of that discussion.”

Mitt Romney (Photo courtesy of mittromney.com).

Protesting at its Highest?
Mitt Romney gave the commencement speech at Liberty University’s graduation over the weekend. Liberty, a private evangelical Christian university in Virginia, was founded by fundamentalist Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell in 1971.

Romney spoke about the “shared moral convictions” that can bond people of differing religious faith together, and then broached the topic of same-sex marriage: “As fundamental as these principles are, they may become topics of democratic debate. So it is today with the enduring institution of marriage. Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman.” Romney, undoubtedly, made this statement part of his speech because of Obama’s statement earlier in the week in support of same-sex marriage.

Protestors at the commencement were focusing on a different topic. MoveOn.org –a “progressive public policy advocacy group” — has taken credit for flying over the event with the banner: “GOP = HIGHER SCHOOL DEBT.” The group says Romney wants to cut $170 billion from the Pell Grant program.

Obama is Golden
Endorsements come and go — see Rick Perry for example — and some matter more than others. But an endorsement from Golden Girl Betty White sure can’t hurt. Rose, I mean, Betty has endorsed Obama saying that she likes what he has done and “how he represents us.”

Celebrity endorsements are not given a lot of weight, but White’s career, which stretches amazingly back to the 1930s and is still very active today, definitely spans almost any and all generation gaps.

Combines unload wheat on the Ryan Brother's farm outside of Pullman, Wash. (Photo by Elizabeth Wiley/UW Election Eye)

Agriculture is an important industry for the state of Washington, but residents on the west side of the state and in other urban areas don’t always understand its role.

PULLMAN, Wash. — Residents of Washington often refer to the divide between the western and eastern sides of the state as more than just geographic. The Cascade Mountains create a topographic separation, but it goes deeper: rural vs. urban, agriculture vs. industry, conservative vs. liberal.

It’s in Whitman County, in the southeastern corner of the state, where my part of this story starts.  Both of my parents grew up in Pullman, their fathers professors at Washington State University.  My mom’s sister married a farmer, so I spent part of my summers growing up riding horses, combines, and farm trucks with my cousins.

My uncle, Bill Ryan, operates a farm and ranch with his brother, Gary, 20 minutes outside of Pullman in the rolling wheat fields referred to as the Palouse.  They farm over 3,700 acres (owned and leased) and have over 14,000 acres for their cattle operation with a crew of five men.  The rolling hills are fertile ground for wheat, and the Snake River canyons shelter cattle in the winter.

Like many farmers in the area, the Ryans have been harvesting wheat from the hills for many generations, Bill and Gary are fifth generation farmers on their land.  The house where their parents still live was built in 1910.

Washington State is rich in crops and resources, the highest producer of many crops including raspberries, apples, and hops, the second largest producer of potatoes, and boasts the county (Whitman) that produces the most wheat in the nation.

Peter Goldmark, the Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands, has a ranch in Okanogan County that also focuses on cattle and wheat.  The Palouse and Okanogan regions couldn’t be more different in terms of terrain, rainfall, and soil type, but the issues farmers in ranchers face in both regions are the same.  Goldmark said domestic policy, and its implications, is the biggest issue for agriculture.

The Ryans still rely on draft horses to haul hay through the river canyons to the winter. (Photo by Elizabeth Wiley/UW Election Eye)

Because of the divide between east and west, many people on the west side of the state and other urban areas don’t understand agriculture or its political issues.  The issues in agriculture are numerous, including property rights, water quality and access, interest rates, immigration, cost of labor, and much more.

“The fact that most of the population lives in urban areas and is unfamiliar with agriculture leads to a complete disconnect between the policy and the public understanding.  The public is often unsympathetic to farmers,” Goldmark said.

When I spoke to Steve Appel, former President of the Washington State Farm Bureau for 17 years, he said, “[Western Washingtonians] see their world and it’s so totally different than the world we live in that there’s going to be a clash there.  King County, Pierce County, and Thurston County can outvote the rest of the state.”

Because of this, people involved in agriculture in Washington must also educate the general population about how they benefit the state and what issues they face.  Additionally, they often pay out of pocket to meet state requirements.

“We do many things that don’t improve our profitability, but we spend money to defend ourselves.  It feels like guilty until proven innocent,” said Ryan.

Additionally, elections for state offices, such as the House and governor, have an impact on agriculture.  Appel put more weight on the race for governor, because of the appointments that individual makes.  These appointed positions have a huge impact on regulations, their interpretation, and enforcement.

Bill Ryan, his father Jack, and daughter Laura head home after moving cattle along the Snake River. Five generations have operated the family farm. (Photo by Elizabeth Wiley/UW Election Eye)

“If I had to chose one or the other that I could magically wave my wand and change, I would change the governor.  We could still have the democratic legislature.  In fact, I can make the argument that that’s not a bad way to go because you have some balance going on, which we have not had for years,” he explained.

This balance is important in a state that’s diverse and for an industry that typically benefits from the policies of more conservative governing bodies.

“In Washington, agriculture is probably in the top five in economic impact.  It is a strong, direct economic resource and a local source of food,” Goldmark said. “The food produced in Washington is amongst the highest quality produced in the world.”

State residents enjoy a bounty year-round, from fruits and vegetables to grains or even meat.  And we have farmers and ranchers around the state to thank for it.

I was lucky enough to get a taste for what hard work really means as a child and later as a college student living in Pullman.  The few who farm and ranch, like my uncle with his cattle and wheat, work year round. Wheat planting and harvest cycles transition to cattle ranching months.

“Farming is really hard work,” said Goldmark. “It requires skill, hard work, and luck with dryland crops, like wheat, especially.”

Farming and ranching is only highly profitable for agribusinesses — large corporations that have capital to leverage.

“There is a lot of agribusiness in Washington, including the largest potato producers and processors and much of the wine industry.  These are huge consortiums and the aspects of the family-run farms are absent,” Goldmark said.

Farming and ranching operations often require financing to survive and operation costs often eat up most of the revenue farms generate. The capital available to agribusinesses is part of the reason they continue to expand and grow.

“Nearly every operation has borrowed capital for either land acquisition or operating capital,” Goldmark stated.

Ripened wheat covers the hills around the original Ryan homestead outside of Pullman, Wash. (Photo by Elizabeth Wiley/UW Election Eye)

Ryan is no exception. “The first time we took out an operating loan, the banker told us, ‘You can borrow this money and reinvest it in anything and make an easy return on it.  Unfortunately agriculture isn’t one of those,’” Ryan said. “They figure us at like a 2 or 3% return, when most people would borrow that and invest, and come back with a 15% return.”

The values associated with farming were an important element for all three of the men I talked to.  As part of multi-generational farms, each learned from an early age about hard work, but they also valued the emphasis on family.  Appel’s family has been in the area since the late 1800s.  He said that was true of most farms in the region — such as Goldmark’s.

“The central themes in my life have been family and agriculture.  Values that I learned as a child were affirmed raising a family of five children.

My sons are the third generation to run our ranch.  I learned as a child to be an active participant in all activities.  That learning process is essential for youth,” Goldmark said.

A recently tabled piece of federal legislation, the Child Labor Act, could have impacted the role children under 16 play on farms.  The proposed legislation would have restricted family farm operations by prohibiting those under 16 from participating in common practices on a farm or  ranch.

The help of all generations is necessary for making operations run more smoothly, and, as Goldmark attests, it’s also a way to instill values and spend time together as a family.

Ryan agrees. “Simple tasks make them feel like they’ve accomplished a lot and like their helping adults.  It really builds their self-confidence, pride in their work, and their work ethic,” Ryan said.

Later he added, “It’s a wonderful life.  It’s just not a good living.  It’s a great way to raise a family because while I was gone and working so much, some of the time the kids could come with me.  That’s when I got to see them.  That’s hard to do if you’re not self-employed.”

It’s legislation like this, though well-intentioned, that is detrimental to farming and illuminates the difference between east and west in Washington.

“I still to this day can’t think of what else I’d do.  I could never think of anything else. Whenever I was away I just wanted to be here,” Ryan said.

PORTLAND, Ore.–

(Photo by UW Election Eye)

Cheers to all the moms out there!

Early Saturday, May 12th, a crew from the UW Election Eye team headed south on Interstate-5 to Portland to cover the lead up to Tuesday’s primary election. In our quest for stories, we made our way to the downtown core to get a feel for the city and its inhabitants.

(Photo by Derek Walker/UW Election Eye)

With a Portland-newbie in tow, our first stop of the morning was landmark Voodoo Doughnut to get our hands on a famous bacon maple bar or two.

(Photo by Derek Walker/UW Election Eye)

We had hoped the line outside would be a great place to get the pulse for Portland politics. Unfortunately, the bulk of visitors to VooDoo on this sunny Saturday were out-of-towners.

So bellies full, we continued the quest.

(Photo by Derek Walker/UW Election Eye)

As we wandered the streets, we discovered that many Portlanders are working hard to keep true to the sentiment shown above.

Exhibit A:

(Photo by Derek Walker/UW Election Eye)

These surfing pups were enjoying a ride down Broadway.

Not too far away, in the Saturday Market, we found a few Core volunteers doing their part to register voters.

(Photo by Derek Walker/UW Election Eye)

Johnny Richey, a Core volunteer working to engage Hispanic and African-American populations in the presidential election stated, “I didn’t vote until I saw someone like me. With the recession going on, I got up off my butt and quit complaining and did something about it.”

(Photo by Derek Walker/UW Election Eye)

His work does encourage a vote for Obama, but he does his best not to argue with potential voters. Instead, Richey said, “We’re here to register people to vote, not here to debate.”

Later in the afternoon we interviewed one of the top three candidates in the Portland mayoral race–stay tuned for an update as the intrepid UWEE crew follows up with the other two top contenders.

In honor of their latest mayoral battle in the form of a doughnut eating content, we ended our first day in Portland as we began it: with Voodoo Doughnuts.

Voodoo Doughnuts comes in all shapes and flavors at the Northeast Portland branch on May 12, 2012. (Photo by Elizabeth Wiley/UW Election Eye)

After 7 years as Senate Majority Leader, Lisa Brown is stepping down. (Photo from Wikipedia)

Washington Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown will be leaving office at the end of her term this year. Who her successor will be depends on a lot — including whether Democrats can hold onto their majority.

SEATTLE — Last week, State Senator Lisa Brown (D) of the 3rd district announced she will not be running for reelection in the fall and will let her term expire at the end of the year. Brown has represented the Spokane area as State Senator since 1997.

As I read her statement on her decision to leave office, I wondered: Who will take over Brown’s spot after she leaves? But honestly, I also wondered: What does a Majority Leader do anyway?

There is no definitive answer for the first question. No one who’s in the know is willing to speculate at this point, including Brown herself, who says she wants to stay away from endorsing any of her potential successors.

“I’ll let people put their names in a hat,” she said.

The fact is it’s not even clear whether Democrats will be able to keep their majority in the Senate come November.

Half of the 49 seats are up for re-election this year, and the Republicans only need to pick up three of those to gain the majority. Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt didn’t respond to requests for comment about how confident he and fellow Republicans are that they’ll gain the majority.

Brown, though, said she was confident the Democrats will hold their lead.

“Senate Democrats are well-positioned to lead the state,” wrote Brown in a statement. “We’re very well positioned in tough districts like Vancouver… [and] East King County,” she told me over the phone.

Who is going to fill Brown's seat at the head of the State Senate chamber? (Photo from Wikipedia)

Brown says her days can get very long during the legislative session. With meetings first thing in the morning and throughout the day, she says she barely has time to squeeze in an hour to work out. It’s definitely not a nine-to-five job during session.

“But it balances out,” said Brown. Once the session is over, the workload gets lighter.

Currently, Brown says she’s involved in her party’s campaign activities but she has flexibility in her schedule and can choose what she wants to do.

Unlike the Washington Speaker of the House–currently Democrat Frank Chopp–a Majority Leader in the Senate does not preside over the floor. That role is taken by the Lieutenant Governor–Brad Owen–just like the role the Vice President plays in the U.S. Senate.

The Majority Leader plays a key role in the budget negotiating process and after twenty years in office, Brown says that it is still a difficult task that just gets harder with the current state of economy. She said this past session was especially difficult.

“It wasn’t necessarily because of the roadkill,” she said referring to the Democratic Senators who jumped ship to vote for the Republican budget proposal. “The main source was the economy and the recession.”

Whatever her reason for leaving, there will be plenty of others hungry to pick up the job next session. But the real discussion on who will be the next conductor of the political orchestra in the Washington State Senate can only start after the majority party is decided this fall.

Washington is often championed for its female leadership with two female senators and a female governor. Maria Cantwell, Christine Gregoire, and Patty Murray pictured here in October 2009. (Photo courtesy of Patty Murray's Facebook page)

SEATTLE – The 1992 election was dubbed the “Year of the Woman,” when Anita Hill’s treatment while testifying in the Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, galvanized a movement. The all-male committee highlighted the dominance of men in the Senate, and women responded — that year, 24 new women were elected into the House of Representatives and five to the Senate, including Washington’s Patty Murray.

That uptick in female elected officials also made its way into the statehouse. In Washington, after the 1992 election, women represented 40% of the state legislature — more than any other state.

With that history in mind, and an outgoing female governor and two female senators, you’d think Washington State would be the poster child for states that represent women. But if you peek behind the curtain, you see that female representation in the state legislature has been slowly eroding since its apex in the early 1990s. Today, it stands at 32%.

Visual graph by Betsy Hauenstein / UW Election Eye

That number has the opportunity to decline even further with 10 open legislative seats in this year’s election that are currently held by women – including Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown. Several of those open seats include long-term incumbents.  Yet increased voter turnout this year could also mean that the departure of current female legislators opens the door for new faces to step in.

“We are in this perfect storm,” said Linda Mitchell, president of the National Women’s Political Caucus of Washington. “With the redistricting and the presidential and gubernatorial races, those factors provide huge voter turnout. More voters traditionally mean more votes for women.”

Mitchell points out that redistricting — the redrawing of electoral boundaries after the census — usually breaks open seats that have been held by incumbents, which provides new opportunities for female candidates.

This is also a year that women’s issues have received the national spotlight. From the controversy surrounding the Susan G. Komen for the Cure pulling funding from Planned Parenthood to Rush Limbaugh calling a law student a “slut” after she testified to congressional Democrats about insurance coverage for contraception, many female voters are expected to turn out at the polls.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on the contraceptive coverage rule called an all-male panel. The lack of women representation invoked the ire of women across the country.

I, for one, was disappointed when I saw the photo of the all-male panel of experts called by a House committee to discuss insurance coverage of birth control in President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. How could a woman’s voice not be included in that conversation? With more focus on women’s issues, it seems like this year has the potential to be another “year of the woman,” similar to 1992. But the progress is at times hard to see — and that frustrates political consultant and founding partner and principal of Moxie Media, Lisa MacLean.

“Why does it take something terrible to happen, like with Anita Hill or the attacks on Planned Parenthood and the contraception debate, for it to be a year of the woman? Why isn’t every year a year of the woman?” MacLean asked.

The answer may lie in recruitment. Everyone that I talked to for this piece agreed that there needs to be more done to recruit women to run for office.

“The number one reason people do not run for office is because no one has asked them,” said Erin McCallum, president of Enterprise Washington, an organization who recruits and trains “business-minded lawmakers.”

While both McCallum’s and Mitchell’s groups focus on the full spectrum of political offices, they are also participating in a national movement outo Rutgers University in New Jersey called The 2012 Project: “a non-partisan campaign of the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) to increase the number of women in Congress and state legislatures by taking advantage of the once-in-a decade opportunities of 2012.”

However, there are hurdles to scale. Notably, on Monday, the Missouri House voted 93-59 to bar any public college or university from offering educational programs that encourage women to run for public office. This kind of legislation has the potential to contribute to a decline in females seeking political office.

Diane McDaniel noticed the decline in Washington female legislators and decided there needs to be an organization to support and recruit progressive woman candidates. McDaniel was the political director of the Washington State Labor Council for 15 years and continues to be active in politics. She teamed up with progressive lobbyist Lonnie Johns Brown and Teresa Purcell to form the Progressive Women’s Network of Washington, which launched in January.

“We are setting up a network around the state to recruit women candidates and identify other women to help mentor, train and prepare those who want to run. This is a long term project. Washington is a good state for women. We want to make sure we focus on it and not come back every 10 or 20 years when the need is great,” McDaniel said.

Until our statehouse is filled with at least 50% women lawmakers, there will always be room for progress.

Some might think of the state’s assembly as small potatoes, but it really does matter. Our state legislature’s decisions impact us in many ways, whether that’s through taxes, Washington’s education system, transportation systems or passing the same-sex marriage bill this past session. But its hyper-local nature, crossed with wonky policy details, can sometimes make it difficult to follow.

Just last week, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown announced her departure, and created a game of musical chairs/hive of excitement around who would be running for her seat, and then who would be running for Rep. Billig’s seat now that he’s running for Brown’s seat. This stuff isn’t easy to track, but that’s where we come in.

I’m a visual person–maps; photos and other graphics are my friend. So I hope this map of all 49 of Washington’s new, revamped legislative districts showing all of the candidates for each race in each district helps you to understand the current composition of the state legislature, and what’s at stake this election season.

Click here to see a larger version

I’ve also created this version focused on the Seattle-Tacoma-Everett area map for a close-up look.

Click here to view in a new window

I know, I know, we haven’t even hit the candidate filing deadlines yet! But whether you’re a political junkie or just curious about your own district, this map shows all 220 candidates, all 124 races, from all corners of the state. We’re using the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) as our source, along with candidate press releases and other political know-how to bring you this map.

You may find that it becomes out of date quickly with the fluidity of politics, and that’s why this map will be updated weekly up through the filing deadline.

Enjoy!

Celina Kareiva contributed to this post.

Supporters gather outside of the Paramount Theater for Obama's fundraiser on May 10, 2012 (Lindsey Meeks / UW Election Eye).

Security was both tight and a little lax at Obama’s fundraiser in Seattle at the Paramount Theater.

SEATTLE — I have been to a number of presidential campaign events with the UW Election Eye team. I saw and talked to Republican candidates in South Carolina, Nevada, Colorado, and even in Pasco, just over the Cascades.

As a citizen, standing in the same room as these men has been enthralling — whatever one thinks of the candidates, they do tend to hold a room.

As a member of the press, the security to get in the same room as these men has been pretty low key. This was mostly true even once many of them received Secret Service details. I remember not being allowed to have a ballpoint pen in my hand when I went up to speak to Rick Santorum, but that was about it.

But today when I entered the same room as President Barack Obama, security was hiked up.

As part of the press, I was told to arrive within a 15-minute window at a location close to the Paramount Theater, the site of an Obama fundraiser today with seats starting at a hefty $1,000. Once there, I checked in and was told that should I need to use the restroom during Obama’s speech, I should find one of the staff and have them usher me to the restroom. Can anyone say, “Bathroom buddies?”

Once the press was in attendance, we were instructed to form a single file line. Again, it felt like kindergarten all over again — complete with the children, uh reporters, moaning about it. We then proceeded to an alley beside the Paramount, and were asked to put all of our belongings along the wall and to stand several feet from them. As I stared at the graffiti covered wall, waiting in a line in a back alley, it felt a little like a movie scene in which a character was about to be executed.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) posed with a young attendee of the Obama fundraiser on May 10, 2012 (Lindsey Meeks / UW Election Eye).

Secret Service asked each of us to step forward to be checked with a metal detector wand. When the agent motioned me forward, I let him know that I have an insulin pump in my pocket — I am a Type I Diabetic. He said it was okay, and then moved the wand over only the top half of my body, steering clear of my pump and the entire lower half of my body. I’ve had a more thorough security check at a Radiohead concert.

At 3 pm, over an hour from when I originally arrived for the event, we made our way to the theater and POTUS took the stage to a long-held standing ovation and the sounds of U2′s “City of Blinding Lights.” It was indeed quite sunny today in Seattle.

He spoke about the usual topics — job growth, the auto bailout, health care reform, education funding, the exit of troops from Afghanistan. He stayed on message referencing his campaign slogan, “Forward,” at least 13 times. He repeatedly touched on how Mitt Romney was trying to move us as a nation back in time.

Obama fundraiser attendee Michele Kammerer came from Bellingham for the event on May 10, 2012 (Lindsey Meeks / UW Election Eye).

But people in the audience were waiting, anticipating, his remarks on same-sex marriage. Roughly 20 minutes into the speech, he answered their anticipation: “And here in Washington, you’ll have the chance to make your voice heard on the issue of making sure that everybody, regardless of sexual orientation, is treated fairly…We’re moving forward.” The place erupted in sustained applause.

Once Obama concluded his speech by saying he was “Fired up!,” people quickly filed out of the theater. I rushed to grab an interview before everyone was gone. Michele Kammerer — a veteran firefighter, transgender workplace consultant, and queer civil rights activist — came from Bellingham to hear Obama speak. As an activist and transgender woman, she was surprised but elated by Obama’s support for same-sex marriage.

“He’s done more for queer civil rights than any other president,” she said. When I asked her about the timing of Obama’s announcement and about her surprise, she said that she didn’t expect him to publicly support same-sex marriage right now, but that she believes he has planned this moment from when he ran in 2008. “He is a long-range thinker, and he takes his time, moving incrementally.”

Like the press when the president is in the house, apparently.