After months of political musical chairs, the 2005 municipal elections begin in earnest this week. Friday, July 29, is/was the filing deadline, and barring any major surprises, the match-ups are set.

For City Council Position 8 it's quiet, African-American city council incumbent Richard McIver vs. loud, cocky city council wannabe Dwight Pelz. (The surprisingly thoughtful bootstraps weirdo Robert Rosencrantz is making a run at McIver too.) For city council position 2 it's popular process-wonk incumbent Richard Conlin vs. Port Commission grouch Paige Miller. And, in what's sure to be the hottest contest this year, the race for city council position 4 stars garrulous veteran Council President Jan Drago vs. Team Nickels pet and incorrigibly smarmy Casey Corr. (Drago has also drawn repetitive Socialist know-it-all Linda Averill and extra-earnest left-winger Ángel Bolaños.)

While all of these characters certainly make for a colorful campaign season, the real story in 2005 is that the two most significant contests remain uncompetitive side attractions.

This was supposed to be the year that growth, density, and development—issues that threaten to radically alter the tone and pace of our city—were on the verge of polarizing voters and setting up an election-year brawl over Seattle's very soul. However, the candidates that represent Seattle's two factions in this debate have not drawn any serious challengers.

Mayor Nickels, who occupies a sort of environmental new urban left that's obsessed with density, transit, and development (to a fault), is headed to an easy win in November. It's the same story for Council Member Nick Licata (position 6), who represents Seattle's other camp—the more traditional anti-development populist left that, at times, borders on reactionary utopianism.

The fact that neighborhood populists failed to line up a bona fide anti-Nickels candidate and the fact that the downtown development bourgeoisie failed to line up a powerful anti-Licata candidate is puzzling—and disappointing. The poster boys of Seattle's defining factions are going virtually unchallenged, and so, the much-anticipated battle for Seattle has been canceled. It's very Seattle: Everyone in town is intent on avoiding the real conflict. n