Everybody knows that firemen are hot. What some may not realize is that they're also persuasive. Last week, crowded around a tiny table at a busy coffee shop on Capitol Hill, three firefighters' union leaders made the case for their Ready4Rescue initiative, which would amend the city charter (no small thing) to require the city to pay for four-person firefighting teams. (Four-man teams are the national standard.) The proposal has been aggressively opposed by Mayor Greg Nickels.

The biggest bit of evidence that the firefighters aren't fucking around? Their decision to hire Republican hit man Bruce Boram--the same guy who ran Dave Reichert's successful congressional bid (and launched a brutal attack campaign against Democratic AG candidate Deborah Senn) last year. Asked why the firefighters would associate with a right-wing pit bull like Boram, Atwater was blunt. "Who ran Reichert's campaign? Bruce Boram. Who ran [loser Dave] Ross's campaign? [Mayoral staffer] Marco Lowe. We want to send a message that we're in this to win."

A few days later and a few doors down, at a Thai restaurant on 15th Avenue, City Council contender Paige Miller was at pains to convince me that she was not, as I asserted last week, "right-leaning." The conversation reminded me of a similar one I had nearly a year earlier--this one with embattled council incumbent Margaret Pageler, who lost to Tom Rasmussen in 2004. Both Pageler and Miller faced uphill PR battles: Pageler against her conservative record, and Miller against her tempestuous, tough-gal image. At a recent forum put on by the stolid CityClub, when Republican Senator Bill Finkbeiner suggested putting money earmarked for the viaduct into I-5, Miller reportedly hissed, booed, and commandeered the mic, prompting nervous laughter among the 150-plus CityClub supporters in attendance.

For environmentalists, the contrast between Miller and Conlin may be obvious. Not so the choice between Conlin and King County Council member Dwight Pelz, whose decision to jump into the race last week has thrown some onetime Conlin supporters into an existential tizzy. Over at the Sierra Club, which endorsed Conlin in his two previous council bids, Pelz' surprise entry led one Sierra Club endorsement committee member, Michael McGinn, to turn down an offer to serve on Conlin's campaign. On Monday, McGinn told me that the endorsement committee wants to give "other candidates" (read: Pelz) the opportunity to make their case.

Conlin, Pelz, and Miller will have plenty of time to discuss their differences on February 12, when the three council competitors will share a table at Gay Bingo, put on by the Lifelong AIDS Alliance. The lineup at the table, hosted by council president Jan Drago, remains firm despite recent political developments that might make the gathering a little, well, awkward. Drago aide Barbara Clemons says she'll be attending "just to make sure everybody sits at the right table."