After the Seattle Times, and its publisher, Frank Blethens, endorsed Dave "The Hair" Reichert, it is no surprise that they would also endorse Mike! McGavick over Maria Cantwell.
The Times is known for being much more conservative than the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and Blevens is particularly a Big Business Conservative. Only Frank could see " sacrificing some jobs to save a few" as a good thing, considering the fortunes of Safeco Insurance were not turned around.
As the Times points out all the ways that McGavick is similar to Maria, she is criticized for not showing leadership, while McGavick is painted as a Big Business saint
The endorsement is
here in the Seattle Times this morning.
Of course, the Times did not mention that, as CEO of Safeco Insurance, Mike had his own personal insurance with another company, was not able to turn the company around, thus causing several thousand people to be laid off, and his claim that even though he was arrested for drunk driving, he now knows his limit and will continue to drink and drive safely.
Funny, but yesterday there was a story in the neighboring Tacoma News Tribune reporting that the RNCC was not going to put anymore money into ads for Mike! ( that is how he spells his name on all his signs) which most took as an indication that they dont think he can beat Maria.
Apparently the Times disagrees.
The Times endorsed Reichert because Frank Blethens wants the estate tax repealed and Reichert, and Mike!, strongly endorse that. Darcy Burner and Maria Cantwell do not. While the endorsement claims that is not the biggest reason for the nod to Mike!, his abilities as a CEO are laughable, and the estate tax becomes the only attractive issue related to him.
Meanwhile, Blethens ignores the "other" things about both candidates that concern a lot of local voters. McGavick was on the receiving end of a fundraiser up in Alaska, hosted by Ted Stevens, mostly because Ted the Tubes HATES Cantwell for her successful battle against him on the drilling at ANWAR. And, as has been reported in numerous diaries, Reichert is a rubber stamp for Bush.
It will be interesting to see who the other papers endorse!