"Plenty going on in this off-year election"

Joel Connelly (Seattle P-I):

Given its abundance of odd moments, excesses, underachievers and below-the-belt hits, 2007 has indeed been an "off year" election. Here is my list of the lows and highs:

Wretched excess: The insurance industry poured $11.5 million into the campaign against Referendum 67, a measure that would allow ratepayers to seek damages when insurers deny legitimate claims.

The anti-R-67 campaign wound up appropriately low. A final broadside quoted a Spokane lawyer who represents insurance companies, and a one-time Olympia columnist best known for arguing that African-Americans are better off because their ancestors were brought to the New World as slaves.

Classic welcome: At a news conference called after his Minnesota airport bathroom bust, Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, began by saying, "I would like to thank all of you for coming out."

Craig denied being gay, but announced that he would resign from the Senate. He has since decided to stay on.

Non-support: Contesting the King County Prosecutor's Office for the first time in 30 years, Democrats fielded a nominee rated "Outstanding" by the Municipal League.

Yet, two state party leaders -- Gov. Chris Gregoire and King County Executive Ron Sims -- did not even endorse Bill Sherman.

Sims did find time for the dregs. He supported underachieving Seattle City Councilman David Della. And Sims was pictured with Bob Edwards in a mailer where the Seattle port commissioner smeared his reformist opponent.

Danny v. Fannie: Seattle Times scribe Danny Westneat went to Portland, rode 14 different trains, and came home reporting how light rail has revitalized the Rose City.

Opposing Proposition 1, however, Fairview Fannie's neoconservative editorialist ridiculed Portland's light rail system, with statistics substituting for observation and demonstrating myopic ignorance of a major transit success story.

Tortoise of the year: Lawyer and onetime University of Washington linebacker Bruce Harrell gave bland stump speeches laden with bring-us-together rhetoric, with occasional references to himself in the third person.

Still, Harrell learned in the "house of Don James" that not making mistakes can keep you in the game. He watched as primary opponent Al Runte -- well-known from a race against Mayor Greg Nickels -- showed little awareness of any issue beyond the activist 1960s.

And then, after a candidates forum in which she clearly bested Harrell -- opponent Venus Velazquez went off for dinner and drinks, and was arrested for driving under the influence.

Toughest customer: Seattle Port Commission candidate Gael Tarleton didn't come crying to the press when smeared by a desperate foe: She met him on the playing field.

After getting under 29 percent of the primary election vote, Edwards sought to smear Tarleton with her past work for a defense-port security contractor. "Gael Tarleton -- Port Security from the Company that Brought You the Iraq War," said an Edwards mailer, decorated with a picture of President Bush.

Never mind that Tarleton left the contractor five years ago, before the war.

Tarleton's reply: A mailer listing headline after headline on the Seattle Port Commission's dysfunctions, from the proposed $300,000 golden parachute to departing CEO Mic Dinsmore to cost overruns in the airport baggage system.

Master of the mud: With Della and Edwards as clients, Seattle political consultant Michael Grossman could not claim to have Secretariat and Seattle Slew as election mounts.

Grossman's response -- muddy the track. He has launched nasty, negative, personal mailings, demonizing Della's challenger Tim Burgess as an agent of the far right, and saddling a former Tarleton employer with the Iraq war.

He overdid it, but Karl Rove wannabes at The Stranger have argued that Democratic presidential campaigns should hire Grossman.

Change in play: During 40 years of doing business, the Sierra Club locally (Cascade chapter and Northwest office) has played hard, but shown a knack for knowing when to compromise for more than half a loaf.

It has negotiated boundaries of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area, played a crucial part in creating the North Cascades National Park, helped get money to buy privately owned ancient forests, and -- recently -- helped beat four politicians on greens' national "Dirty Dozen" list.

In 2007, however, the club has: a) come out against a transit package dominated by light rail; b) allowed itself to be used in ads sponsored by a historical foe, Eastside developer Kemper Freeman Jr.; and c) taken swipes at arguments by environmental groups that back Prop. 1.

Can't catch a break: Spokane has endured its fill of gay sex scandals involving community pillars, recently the late Mayor Jim West. Its local Catholic diocese is paying millions to victims of pedophile priests.

Still, the Lilac City can't catch a break. In Spokane for a GOP caucus retreat, Rep. Richard Curtis, R-La Center, brought a young man back to the posh Davenport Hotel and later told police he was an extortion victim.

Curtis has resigned. While the sordid tale cost Olympia one more foe of gay civil rights legislation, it sustained Spokane's reputation for kinky happenings.

Howie P.S.: Joel only left one little thing off his list: Dan Satterburg's massive last-minute dollar dump, financed by the usual Republican suspects.