Democratic State Auditor Brian Sonntag tells Crosscut that he is holding to his July 4 go-no go decision date regarding a gubernatorial candidacy, although his announcement conceivably could slip a few days beyond next Monday.
Rep. Jay Inslee declared his candidacy this past Monday and has organized Democratic and interest-group support. Inslee's first week campaigning has been somewhat bumpy, including a non-starting proposal that state pension funds be invested in private business startups. Sonntag apparently is not basing his decision about a candidacy on Inslee's early campaign effectiveness. He says he is spending this coming weekend conferring mainly with family.
My earlier article suggested 55-45 odds in favor of Sonntag's declaring a candidacy. I now make that 50-50. If Sonntag was feeling it and eager to compete, I suspect he'd already have jumped into the gubernatorial race.
That does not mean, however, that he will not decide next week to do so. The governor's job is open. Sonntag has been the leading Democratic statewide vote-getter over many terms as auditor, and would pull moderate Republican and independent votes in a general election, causing problems for Republican Rob McKenna. A Sonntag-Inslee contest would be much closer.
