It seems we have won a great victory
We cannot be absolutely certain that Initiative 912 has been defeated - but we can be pretty sure. King County voters are defeating Initiative 912 in a landslide, and other surprise counties such as Snohomish, Kitsap, and Thurston are also voting it down. It's hard to see how the current margins could be reversed.
The results are still fairly close. But throughout the evening, we have slowly gained on 912 proponents. As I write this, we are almost at 53%.
If we hang on to the lead we currently have and go on to win this, we will have won one of the greatest victories in the history of Washington State politics. This victory is so massive that it's hard to get a sense of the scope of it.
It is incredibly difficult to fight anti-tax measures. It's difficult because you're trying to get voters to vote for the common interest of the whole state instead of voting for their own self-interest.
Tim Eyman and others predicted a landslide victory for I-912. They were dead wrong. They were overconfident and cocky. They did not think that voters might be tired of their "government is evil" message. They assumed their attacks on WSDOT would work.
The defeat of Initiative 912 is a crushing blow to John Carlson, Kirby Wilbur, Brett Bader, and others who naively assumed that voters hated Gov. Christine Gregoire and the state legislature for making this investment in the future.
They were wrong. Dead wrong.
We do not yet know the final result of this election. But we are optimistic. We believe we have won. We believe we have just handed the anti-tax zealots in Washington State their worst defeat ever.
I feel better than I have felt in a long time. I am simply delighted. All of this hard work - all of this time, energy, and money that we've used - has paid off enormously.
A huge thank you to everyone who worked against Initiative 912. This victory would not have been possible without you.
The results are still fairly close. But throughout the evening, we have slowly gained on 912 proponents. As I write this, we are almost at 53%.
If we hang on to the lead we currently have and go on to win this, we will have won one of the greatest victories in the history of Washington State politics. This victory is so massive that it's hard to get a sense of the scope of it.
It is incredibly difficult to fight anti-tax measures. It's difficult because you're trying to get voters to vote for the common interest of the whole state instead of voting for their own self-interest.
Tim Eyman and others predicted a landslide victory for I-912. They were dead wrong. They were overconfident and cocky. They did not think that voters might be tired of their "government is evil" message. They assumed their attacks on WSDOT would work.
The defeat of Initiative 912 is a crushing blow to John Carlson, Kirby Wilbur, Brett Bader, and others who naively assumed that voters hated Gov. Christine Gregoire and the state legislature for making this investment in the future.
They were wrong. Dead wrong.
We do not yet know the final result of this election. But we are optimistic. We believe we have won. We believe we have just handed the anti-tax zealots in Washington State their worst defeat ever.
I feel better than I have felt in a long time. I am simply delighted. All of this hard work - all of this time, energy, and money that we've used - has paid off enormously.
A huge thank you to everyone who worked against Initiative 912. This victory would not have been possible without you.
