Speaking of McCay's piece

...he brought up an interesting topic that is close to my heart. The extent to which party leaders lobby for and encourage people to run for office.

...what happened in the gubernatorial and Senate races in 2004 was wrong — GOP leaders simply froze out anyone but Rossi and Congressman George Nethercutt, respectively. Would-be candidates, some of whom certainly had the capacity to serve with distinction, were told to bug out and were not even allowed to speak at the Republican convention if they criticized a rival.

It happened in Snohomish County recent when the Snoho GOP blocked Greg Stephens.

It happened last year when Paul Berendt got Dave Ross to run against a perfectly good candidate, Alex Alben, that had already gotten the blessing from practically the entire congressional delegation and the governor.

And, the more I think about Alex, the more I get ticked off that it doesn't look like the KC Dems are fielding anyone for the Sixth council district. Not fielding a Democrat in any King County district is a shame. Alex Alben not coming forward to run against Jane Hague is either an indictment against his dedication or to the KC Dems for not going after him.