Republican Susan Hutchison: "I don't have anything to say to the voters"

Chalk up a big victory today for King County Executive hopeful Dow Constantine:

Susan Hutchison, the front runner in the race for King County executive, fired back at County Councilman Dow Constantine Wednesday afternoon after he said she's too conservative for local voters and ducking an honest debate.

In a telephone interview with seattlepi.com Hutchison called Constantine a liar.

[...]

"I don't have to say anything to the voters," said Hutchison, a long-time local television personality. "They've known me for 20 years on the air. They've known me for another seven years as someone who has served in the community."

Thanks, Susan, for reminding the people of King County why it would be a mistake to elect you as our Executive. You don't have anything to say to the voters? That's fine. We can decide that we want nothing to do with you.

The last thing this county needs for a leader is an arrogant Republican who thinks people should just cast their votes based on personality and likability.

Hutchison's response to Dow Constantine's press conference calling her out this morning for running a stealth campaign is making Constantine's move look brilliant. Not only did Constantine manage to score earned media and attention for his campaign, but he provoked Hutchison into supplying a priceless quote that he and the other three Democrats in the race can use over and over and over again between now and August 18th. And perhaps even beyond into the fall.

"I don't have anything to say to the voters" truly does symbolize the Hutchison campaign so far. Arrogant, aloof, mostly invisible, and almost completely inaccessible. If Hutchison expects voters to take her seriously as a candidate, she needs to make herself available. That means showing up to candidate forums and not hiding her positions on the issues.

Four paragraphs of vague allusions to progressive policy directions on a campaign website does not constitute a campaign with rich, fresh ideas.

(To be fair, it's not like the Democratic candidates have much on their websites talking about the issues either. But unlike Susan, they're making lots of public appearances and answering questions without hesitation. I've had the chance to talk to all four at length about a whole range of issues).

Anyone can promise to lead by bringing people together, as Hutchison is doing. Delivering on that kind of promise requires a lot of tactfulness, diplomacy, and people skills, which Hutchison appears to lack, based on her testy response. She called one of her opponents a liar and then said nothing to justify that extraordinary allegation. If that's any indication of how she'll act as King County Executive, we'd all be wise to steer clear of her candidacy.