Jim McIntire

Rep. Jim McIntire, candidate for state treasurer: Politicker PhotoState Rep. Jim McIntire, who retired this year in order to make a run for state treasurer, appears well-positioned to continue on to the general election despite the presence of fellow Democrat ChangMook Sohn in the primary, the well-funded and well-respected chief economist for the state. It was widely expected to be one of the closest races of the night between second and third place candidates.

At the end of the night McIntire narrowly trailed Assistant State Treasurer Allan Martin, a Republican, in statewide polling but held a large lead over Sohn. With 766,357 votes counted, Martin had 44.3 percent of the vote compared to 40.7 percent for McIntire and 15.0 percent for Sohn.

With the state's "top two" primary coming up in just over two weeks, August and advertising go together like checks and envelopes at a campaign kickoff party. In addition to all the ads that have gone up lately, here is a rundown of who else is buying time on the airwaves to spread their message.

Governor Chris Gregoire is up with two new spots in Eastern Washington, called "Understanding Spokane" and "Understanding Yakima". The two ads are essentially the same, touting dry side roots and Eastern Washington-specific job growth as well as farm and water policies enacted under Gregoire, but differ when talking about where Gregoire spent time earlier in her life.

Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon (D-Everett) announced today that he is endorsing Chang Mook Sohn (D-Federal Way) for state treasurer, the beginning of what the Sohn campaign said would be a series of endorsements, including some from other county executives, in the coming days.

Reardon cited the expertise of Sohn, who has served as the state's chief economist since the 1980s, on the state's economy and his political integrity in making his choice.

"No one knows Washington state's economy better than ChangMook Sohn," said Reardon."Dr. Sohn never changed the facts to satisfy politicians' spending plans. He just told it like it was - and he was always right."

Seattle Democrat Gerry Pollet, who is running in the well-documented race against Scott White to succeed state treasurer candidate Rep. Jim McIntire (D-Seattle), announced a handful of endorsements in an e-mail this morning.

Pollet, who has also been touting his refusal to accept the financial support of corporations and PACs lately, has the backing of Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata and former Councilmember Peter Steinbreuck, as well as the King County Democrats and the Cascade Bicycle Club.

SEATTLE -

Politicker PhotoThe 46th Legislative District Democrats met Thursday to officially endorse candidates for local and state races. Most of the those were uncontested, required a vote for Rep. Jim McDermott over Donovan Rivers in the 7th Congressional District, and Rep. Jim McIntire for state treasurer over Dr. Chang Mook Sohn.

When it came down the the contested state House race in the 46th District between Scott White and Gerry Pollet, things became a little more complicated.

As State Republican Party Chair Luke Esser noted in his press release yesterday accusing Gov. Chris Gregoire of being in denial on the negative aspects of the state's economy, a new revenue forecast is being released this morning by the Revenue Forecast Council. The Council, chaired by Rep. Jim McIntire (D-Seattle) and led on the Republican side by Sen. Joe Zarelli (R-Ridgefield), will release the forecast and discuss it this morning.

The budget and revenue forecasts have played a prominent role in the gubernatorial campaign, notably in Dino Rossi's campaign. 

Chris Mulick at the Tri-City Herald will be live blogging the event. Be sure to check back for more later.

Rep. Jim McIntire, candidate for state treasurer: Politicker PhotoThe Democratic Party delegates have voted overwhelmingly to make state Rep. Jim McIntire (D-Seattle) its official nominee for state treasurer. McIntire has represented the 46th Legislative District for the past ten years and holds a Ph. D in economics. He defeated Chang Mook Sohn, the state's chief economist.l

In his speech to the voting delegates, McIntire talked up his experience as an elected official.

 "This is not just a technical challenge. This is a leadership challenge," he said.

SPOKANE -

Check out more images from the convention below the jump.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels: Politicker Photo

The 40th Legislative District Democrats held a series of endorsement meetings earlier this week. Members from all three counties, San Juan, Skagit and Whatcom, had their say as to who would be the officially endorsed nominees going into the top two primary in August. Here are the candidates they chose.

40th LD State Senate: Kevin Ranker
40th LD State Rep: Jeff Morris and Dave Quall
Governor: Christine Gregoire
Supreme Court Justice: Mary Fairhurst
State Treasurer: Jim McIntire
Public Lands Commissioner: Peter Goldmark
2nd Congressional District: Rick Larsen

May is the second in a monthly PolitickerWA.com series of the financial status of some of the state's top races.

Here is how things stand as of May 31, 2008. The first number listed is contributions, the second number is expenditures and the third number is the difference between the two. Precluding any unusual circumstances, that third number is equal to cash on hand. The candidate with the most cash on hand is listed at the top of each section.

All numbers below are in the thousands of dollars, unless otherwise noted. See April's figures here.