Martyr In Chief

I'm sure that someone finds this inspirational...

For a number of years, I tried to be an Independent voter. Eventually, I gave up, and settled on my current political affiliation of Not Republican. Which, to be sure, is not really where I want to be. I'd much rather be a genuinely open-minded independent voter who plays the electoral field, as it were. Because if your vote isn't legitimately in play, then no-one will compete for it, and the field of independent candidates in this neck of the woods who might actually in something is pretty sparse.

So Jay Inslee, Democratic Governor and former longshot candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, is up for re-election. And to run against him, the Republicans found Loren Culp, small-town Chief of Police, veteran and author of a book on gun rights. And apparent anti-mask crusader. Which is fine for what it is, but that's about all I know about the guy. His candidate statement in the Voter's Guide for the general election is little more than a stereotypically Conservative biography; spent time in the Army, married his high-school girlfriend, kids and grandkids, wrote a book... and not much else. The only policy position of his that I had any inkling of is apparently that he'll end the state's mask mandate. Of course, the candidate's website has a little more detail, as one would expect.

But what I didn't expect was a billboard, on a major thoroughfare out of Seattle, of all places, to be mainly about masks. Is that really what the Culp campaign thinks is top of mind for voters in the Bluest part of a Blue state? There are parts of the state that I could see this playing very well in. The near suburbs of Seattle is not among them.

Sometimes, political parties put someone up to run for office because that person has a good chance to win the seat and from there, implement the policies that the party, and its supporters (hopefully) find worthwhile. But sometimes, it seems that parties put someone up for a run so that they can complain that they weren't given a fair chance when they lose. I suspect you know which I these groups I think that Mr. Culp might be in. And that's a shame. I'd love to see a moderate Republican run for Governor of Washington. Or for the Senate or for the district House seat. But it's normally an ideologue on the menu for those races. In Mr. Culp's case, his main qualification seems to be that he's not Governor Inslee. Which also, incidentally, qualifies me to be Governor. But if this didn't run this guy to certain defeat, what would Republicans have to complain about? I'm just not sure that's a worthwhile reason to seek office.