A wounded mayor: Seattle's Greg Nickels may not survive primary

IT takes a lot to make Seattle voters angry but once riled they are not easy to appease. So it seems to be for Mayor Greg Nickels, who may not survive the primary.

In a virtual three-way tie, Nickels was coming in third behind Mike McGinn, the anti-tunnel candidate, and Joe Mallahan, who voters are flocking to because he is not Nickels.

If Nickels pulls it out in the primary, this is one wounded mayor. He will have perhaps 25 or 26 percent support, meaning 75 percent of voters are unhappy with him.

Seattle has had only one 12-year, three-term mayor for a reason. Voters tire of you. And citizens have reason to be fatigued, considering the miserable city response to last December's snowstorms.

Voters might forgive that if they felt Nickels would handle himself better in another crisis — a swine-flu outbreak, an earthquake. If Nickels does survive, the next term is about building the tunnel, expanding Sound Transit. People's lives will be disrupted. The tone needs to be vastly different.

The anti-tunnel vote got a huge bump with support for McGinn, who wants to undo that decision. Welcome to Groundhog Day, as the city revisits the decision again and again. McGinn's solution, surface transit, will jam our streets and overwhelm the freeway.

Mallahan does not have a lot of experience but he is a thoughtful guy who presents well.

The race has changed dramatically. Nickels might be finished.