City Council Member Nick Licata got some chilling news this Halloween season. On October 30, the Seattle City Council voted 5-4 to raise contribution limits on city election campaigns from $400 to $600. This is particularly scary for Licata because as the council's lead lefty, he's sure to be in the gun sights of the city's richer voters next November. Upping campaign-limit contributions is certain to work against him. Consider this: In Licata's 1997 grassroots victory, 33 percent of his contributions were $99 or less, and just 22 percent came in at the $400 max. By way of comparison, just nine percent of conservative Council President Margaret Pageler's donations were $99 or less, while nearly 40 percent hit the limit. The civics lesson here is obvious--candidates with lefty politics, who rely on a greater percentage of smaller donors to propel them, are going to have an even harder time running against candidates who appeal to richer voters now. Here's why: Pageler-style voters, who can afford to give $400, are more likely to afford a jump to $600, while Licata's penny-pinching base is likely to stay put. JOSH FEIT

Where's Licata?

In a local version of the anti-Nader/pro-Gore push by national lefties like Rev. Jesse Jackson, Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone, and AFL-CIO head John Sweeney, proletariat City Council Member Judy Nicastro rounded up some of Seattle's most notable progressives to send out the same message: "Voting for Nader is voting for Bush." Taking the stage at Westlake Center last Thursday morning, October 26, Nicastro--speaking over shouts of "Sellout!"--said a Bush presidency would be a "nightmare." In addition to having council colleagues Richard Conlin and Heidi Wills at her side, Nicastro scored a coup by getting former Olympia rabble-rouser Dawn Mason and Seattle's number-one left-wing activist, John Fox, to the microphone. Fox said Bush would "turn the Bill of Rights into Swiss cheese." And Mason, in her inimitable style, directly confronted and shouted down the noisiest pro-Nader heckler. "Now listen here, young man," Mason said. "This is serious."

Notably absent from Nicastro's media event, however, was this city's most articulate leftist--Council Member Nick Licata. In a statement printed on green paper. Licata said Seattle voters should only cast ballots for Gore if the race is tight, but for Nader if either Gore or Bush is far ahead when the East Coast polls come in. That's cute, but it's hardly what we look for in a leader. Licata is in a position to influence the election long before desperate 11th-hour maneuvering kicks in. He should rise to the occasion and provide more guidance than TV polling results do. JOSH FEIT