Mayor Mike McGinn won the 43rd Legislative District Democrats mayoral straw poll last night, demonstrating impressive support among people willing to pay two dollars a ballot (with no limit on the number of ballots you can buy) to participate in the 43rd Legislative District Democrats' mayoral straw poll!

Okay, so it's not meaningful in any demographically significant way. But I think it does say something about the character of this race. Namely, that McGinn and his loyal core of supporters are not going down without a fight.

It takes boots on the ground (and a little bit of money) to freep a straw poll, even one as meaningless as this. The 43rd is Ed Murray territory, a district he's represented since 1995. Yet the McGinn camp was determined to deny Murray even this tiny symbolic victory, outpolling him 341 to 236 just for the sake of bragging rights. Meanwhile, none of the other candidates even made an effort.

So while the straw poll is meaningless the effort is not. Right now I just sense that McGinn and Murray are working harder than the other candidates. And if they keep it up, this unscientific straw poll may prove more predictive than it first appears.