Washington: Ballot Initiatives

Everyone is a pundit these days, telling anyone who will listen who they think will win the governor’s races, the 8th Congressional District race, the presidency and their own local elections. So PolitickerWA.com decided to help fan the flames of the state of punditry by giving some prominent political people a venue in which to share their prediction skills.

PolitickerWA.com received predictions on a handful of important races across the state from a number of elected officials, staffers, bloggers and academics. See what they had to say below.

A recent poll from SurveyUSA shows close margins in the statewide races for superintendent of public instruction and commissioner of public lands, but clear leaders on two ballot initiatives and in the race for attorney general.

Incumbent Commissioner of Public Lands Doug Sutherland (R-Tacoma) leads Okanogan Democrat Peter Goldmark 45-43, and challenger Randy Dorn is ahead of incumbent Terry Bergeson 43-38 in the race for superintendent.

A new SurveyUSA poll sponsored by KING-TV shows support for Sound Transit's latest Proposition 1 measure that would expand mass transit, but the proposition's electoral outlook gets much closer when voters are aware of the proposition's $18 billion price tag.

When simply asked whether they supported the measure, respondents said yes 49 percent of the time compared with 30 percent who did not favor the measure.

State Auditor Brian Sonntag is not endorsing Initiative 985, despite Tim Eyman's consistent statements that the initiative is based upon the performance audit that Sonntag oversaw on state transportation issues, the Tacoma New-Tribune's Joe Turner reported Thursday.

"I am not endorsing or opposing Initiative 985, or any initiative," Sonntag told Turner.