Greg didn't get the memo.

The morning after the March 13 vote—in which voters rejected both the tunnel and rebuild—Governor Christine Gregoire, King County Executive Ron Sims, and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels held a joint press conference in the governor's regal press room in Olympia. The prefab message that Gregoire and Sims delivered to reporters: Voters had spoken clearly; they wanted the region's leaders to work "collaboratively."

Gregoire: "I don't know which options are on or off the table. What I do know is what the voters said. It's time for a collaborative process."

Sims: "The voters told us they want consensus. They want us to work collaboratively."

But that collaborative spirt collapsed as Nickels spoke. While Gregoire and Sims sang in harmony, refusing to rule anything in or out, Nickels echoed what voters had actually said. "The voters sent a clear message," Nickels proclaimed. "They don't want us to build another freeway on the waterfront."

This was the same thing Nickels had said at the Edgewater Hotel the night before, after the results came in, surprising environmentalists and progressives who had watched him stubbornly promote a freeway for three years. Whatever conference call he may have had with Gregoire and Sims between Election Night and the Wednesday press conference did not temper this new message.

Standing at the podium, Nickels was even more explicit. Asked by a TV reporter if his tunnel option was dead, Nickels said, "I will not be advocating for a tunnel." I followed up, asking the mayor if another version of an elevated freeway—like House Speaker Frank Chopp's own shrubbery-lined elevated alternative—was off the table. Referring derisively to Chopp's plan, Nickels said: "The voters were clear. They don't want a highway. You cannot pretty it up."

Given that 70 percent of voters said "no" to Nickels's tunnel freeway and 57 percent (so far) said "no" to Gregoire's elevated freeway, Nickels has it right. And while it's not entirely clear what voters want instead of a freeway, Nickels's strong statements indicate that he's preparing to join the growing chorus of leaders and voters who want to take a serious look at the surface/transit option—once considered a radical outlier.

Conventional wisdom has it that Nickels botched the viaduct standoff—70 percent "no" is a devastating blow. But as the dust cleared on Wednesday, Nickels had surer footing than Gregoire. By admitting that his tunnel was dead and moving forward on the city's second option, surface/transit, Nickels left Gregoire alone to contend with the results of the bruising vote. Indeed, there she was—set up by Nickels with the vote in the first place—saying that the Seattle vote didn't count and that her preferred option, the elevated rebuild, was still on the table. By accepting the voters' verdict on the tunnel and the viaduct, Nickels was able to dust himself off and get back in the fight.