Ground Zero

I spent Sunday afternoon at "Ground Zero", of sorts.

The Washington State House of Representatives has a 52-46 Democratic majority. So all the Republicans need to retake the House is a net gain of four seats. According to this news report, the state GOP is optimistic and:

The battleground races are generally in the Puget Sound suburbs and Southwest Washington. [Republican strategist Dave] Mortenson says "ground zero" of the House races will be the showdown between freshman Democrat Judy Clibborn and Republican firebrand Fawn Spady in the 41st on Mercer Island.

Our "Ground Zero" afternoon was in fact the Fawn Spady campaign kick-off event at the Mercer Island Jewish Community Center.

Regular readers of the Shark Blog will recognize Fawn as the leader, along with her husband Jim, of the lobbying effort for the state's recently signed charter school law. The Spadys fought for ten years to get the law passed, and developed a bipartisan coalition that prevailed over the fierce resistance from the teacher unions and other entrenched interests. Now that's leadership and perseverence.

Fawn has solid backing from the state GOP. The crowd at the kick-off included a Who's Who of the state legislature and local elected officials. Fawn is a terrific candidate, experienced, ebullient and personable; and she's in a strong position to defeat the freshman Democrat incumbent in the traditionally Republican district. If you live in the 41st District, you'll want to vote for Fawn Spady in November. To volunteer, contribute or learn more, her campaign website is here.

Now I get to blow my own horn... While mingling at the campaign kick-off, I went over to introduce myself to one of the honored guests, a top-ranking member of the state Senate. Before I could say anything he looked at my name tag and then said "I've been reading your stuff. It's really good. Thank you!"

That made my day.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at March 29, 2004 10:01 PM