I didn't do endorsements this year, but it's a pretty straightforward:
At the Federal level, for the sake of the Republic, vote Democrat. You may be tempted to prove to yourself that you're an independent by finding a Republican to vote for; someone like Chris Shays (R-CT) or Chuck Hagel (R-NE).
Don't. Save it for 2008. At present, as long as the Republican leadership continues to run up record deficits, support poorly thought-out wars, deny the evidence that supports global warming, and ignore rising health care costs, there is no reason to vote for any Republican running for the House, Senate, or President.
At the state level, the picture is somewhat murkier. You can find reasons to vote for certain Republicans; some of them are certainly members in good standing of the Reality-Based community. But in general, Democrats have been running the state in a responsible fashion lately, while Republicans have been voting against congestion relief and laws banning discrimination against gays.
Vote Democrat, unless you know why you should vote for a specific Republican.
On ballot initiatives, just say "no" [see Kevin Drum of Washington Monthly for more detail]. This isn't a problem for I-920 and I-933, on which one should vote "No" with extreme prejudice. But it's tougher for I-937 and Seattle City Referendum 1.
Referendum 1, which asks to uphold the city's de facto ban on strip clubs via the 4-foot rule, is obviously special interests backed [Strip club owners have largely bankrolled "Seattle Citizens for Free Speech"], but the nanny state laws that the City Council passed are truly silly. I say, vote Yes on Referendum 1 (which is a vote to retain the 4-foot rule), then, in their next election, vote against any City Councilmen or Councwomen who wasted time on this law.
I-937 is obviously good policy, in the sense that more clean energy is better than less. So this is really a question of how strongly I will stick to my personal guidelines of voting no.
I can't do it. I cannot bring myself to vote against clean, renewable sources of energy. It's like voting against puppies. Electoral Math recommends a Yes vote on I-937.
Tax measures, which by charter must be placed before the voters, can be considered on their own merits. I say vote Yes on King County Proposition 2—which will increase bus funding by raising the sales tax—but No on Seattle City Propsition 1—which will pay for some road improvementsby raising the property tax. While I believe Seattle will need more roads and public transit to accommodate its growth over the next 20 years, the roads package proposed by Mayor Nickels isn't even a half measure.
Also vote Yes on King County Proposition 1.
In Seattle, vote Yes on all City Charter amendments, except perhaps amendment 8, which will take some power [but not much] from the Mayor and hand it to the City Council. Though, I think personally I'll be voting Yes on that one too.
