SUMMARY: The Jean Godden and Tom Douglas

Jean Godden Kickoff, The Palace Ballroom, April 25, 6:30 p.m.

Seattle City Council Member Jean Godden stands onstage, wearing a crisp "reelect Jean Godden" apron. Hulking over her, clutching a script, is omnipresent celebrity redhead (and Palace Ballroom owner) Tom Douglas. The room is packed with cheering Godden groupies, among them two-thirds of the city council. The former Seattle Times and P-I columnist's speech, like her three-dot columns about politics and funny license plates, is a mix of cheesy gags and oddball non sequiturs.

Cornball scripts notwithstanding, the event was a smash—$15,000 raised, including $125 each for two signed Jean Godden aprons.

Fifth and Lenora, 7:30 p.m.

Council Member Tom Rasmussen is hurrying toward his Acura, which he later insists is "champagne colored." (I am not a gay man. It is gray.) "Jean set the bar [for kickoff parties] really high," he says. Now he's worried his own party, to be held at the Swedish Center on Dexter Avenue, won't measure up to Godden's goofy variety show. "We can have Swedish meatballs," he muses, adding, "I have a zydeco band. Does that help?" Then, muttering, "Well, I'm off to the food bank," he hops into his indeterminately colored car and drives slowly ("like a little old grandma," according to a protective Rasmussen staffer) away.

First and Bell, 7:40 p.m.

A city council staffer is hurrying down the sidewalk. We almost rush past each other. "Charlie [Chong] is on his deathbed," she says. "I'm heading to the hospital now."

Nothing else happened in council political news this week, unless you count Peter Steinbrueck's endorsement of Venus Velazquez, who's running for the seat Steinbrueck will vacate next year. Progressive activists are still trying to convince a left-of-center candidate to run for the seat or to challenge Godden, but so far, no one's biting; the two most promising names are union spokesman Steve Williamson and Church Council director Michael Ramos. Seattle Displacement Coalition leader John Fox, whose name had been on the informal group's short list, says he isn't ready to run this year and may never be. "I did seriously consider it, but right now, I have personal goals that take precedence," Fox says.