City Council Position 8 candidate Mike O'Brien, who has lately been the subject of rumors that he plans to leave the crowded seat to run against Position 2 incumbent Richard Conlin, says he's staying in the race he's in. "I've heard just this week that I'm running against [Position 6 incumbent] Nick Licata, Richard Conlin, and [Position 4 candidate] Sally Bagshaw," he told me, laughing. "No. I'm running for Position 8 and I plan to stay there."

From a political reporter's POV, that's too bad. A race between O'Brien (former chair of the local Sierra Club chapter and a vocal opponent of the 2007 roads and transit ballot measure) and Conlin (an incrementalist enviro who's often been perceived as wishy-washy) would've been interesting. And it would have given O'Brien an opportunity to stand out and draw comparisons in a way that the six-way race for Position 8—featuring a landlord, two sons of prominent former Seattle officeholders, a neighborhood activist, and a city transportation employee—makes difficult.