New Poll Numbers

Brand-new polling numbers don't look good for incumbent Governor Gary Locke or gubernatorial wannabe County Executive Ron Sims. "Locke would be crazy to run again, and Sims is at just 39 percent," says a lobbyist who saw the sobering poll. "[Attorney General] Christine Gregoire is the one [gubernatorial hopeful] to beat," the lobbyist says.

The poll also rated city politicians like Mayor Greg Nickels, who's reportedly hovering around his razor-thin election margin--at a limp 48 percent approval. JOSH FEIT


City Council Election

If city council campaign kickoffs reflect candidates' chances in November, you'd think incumbent Jim Compton would fold up the tent. Compton's May 7 kickoff party at Fifth Avenue and Madison Street's private College Club drew an underwhelming 40 people. ("Mostly old white guys," said one unimpressed attendee.)

Luckily for Compton, though, his main challenger, ex-cop John Manning, has a well-publicized record of domestic violence. JOSH FEIT


Disrupted Democrats

Things got so contentious at the May 15 46th District Democrats meeting at the Olympic View Church on NE 95th Street that one party member called the cops. It wasn't typical internal political fisticuffs that caused the ruckus, though. It was infiltrators from the ubiquitous Lyndon LaRouche campaign.

"It's like a cult," says one 46th District (North Seattle) Democrat. Fifteen LaRouche supporters showed up to the meeting, kept interrupting scheduled speakers, and even sang "We Shall Overcome." Cops escorted them out. AMY JENNIGES


MIA for LEIU

SPD leadership obviously isn't freaking out about a WTO-style showing by activists during the June 2-6 police intelligence conference sponsored by the Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit (LEIU). Indeed, SPD management will be holed up at a downtown hotel for a managerial retreat during the planned protests. NANCY DREW


Driver's Ed

Plainclothes cops are staking out crosswalks around Seattle, hoping to catch scofflaw drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians. In a typical sting, a cop starts out across a crosswalk, giving a motorist time to stop. If the driver doesn't, another cop catches the driver and issues a citation.

The cost of ignoring a crosswalk: $86. "A lot of people just don't seem to understand their obligation to pedestrians," says SPD Lieutenant Richard Belshay. "The citation is their education." One hundred seventy tickets have been issued in just five sting operations so far. ERICA C. BARNETT