Different Campaign Strategies

Over the past week, the McGinn campaign:

Over the past week, the Mallahan campaign:

  • accepted a check for $30,000 from Joe Mallahan

And both participated in a debate sponsored by the Queen Ann Chamber of Commerce.

I hope my faith in google has not distorted the picture here, but I don’t see how I could possibly have missed enough Mallahan action to significantly alter the imbalance revealed above.

Such a weird mayor’s race.  McGinn is all hustle, while Mallahan appears to believe that all he has to do is be a warm body for business and labor.  So far neither campaign has been very successful at garnering donations from Seattle residents.  Mallahan has provided $232,000 of his campaign’s total $416,000, and recently said he will not contribute any more of his personal funds.  Meanwhile, McGinn continues to operate an all volunteer campaign, and total funds raised just crossed the $100,000 mark last month.

My unapologetically biased take on things at this point:  It’s hard not to conclude that Mallahan’s best hope is that enough people will be so afraid of the prospect of a world without a deep-bore tunnel that they will overlook his embarrassing lack of civic experience.  Conversely,  McGinn’s best hope is that his solid qualifications and progressive vision will not be overshadowed by a populace unwilling to face the urban transformations the future will inevitably demand.