Supreme Court

Casinos pay off and party brands pay dearly. Here are the Winners & Losers for June 13, 2008.

Postman has the latest instructions from the Secretary of State about the logistics of the top-two primary. It's not going to be pretty. I've said here that the structure of the top-two primary will push candidates and the electorate towards extremes, and now is the appropriate time to point out that Washingtonians aren't as independent as they like to think.

The Supreme Court decision from yesterday to uphold I-872 does not merely pertain to theoretical party rights. It also has a direct effect on the actions of party power brokers and candidates relative to what they do and say, and how they allocate their resources between the primary and the general elections. This will be especially true in the heavily partisan areas of the state that stand to promote two candidates from the same party.

Yesterday the United States Supreme Court upheld the controversial I-872 law which creates a "Top Two Primary" system in Washington, whereby voters choose their favorite candidate for office in an August 19 Primary, and the top two vote getters, regardless of party affiliation, earn the right to a spot on November's general election ballot.  read more »

Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz has released a statement on today's Supreme Court decision upholding Washington's law calling for the top two candidates in the primary election to move on to the general, regardless of party affiliation.

"We are gratified that the Supreme Court recognized the right of the party to nominate its own candidates.