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Stevan Morgain

Greg Nickels led at the end of election night.

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• Greg Nickels
• Mark Sidran
• Richard McIver
• Politics
• Local Politics

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THE SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL emerged the clear winner on election night. Three incumbents, Richard Conlin, Jan Drago, and Nick Licata, coasted to easy victories while another, city transportation czar Richard McIver, clung to a small lead over the monorail man, Grant Cogswell. In the mayoral matchup, the liberal nice guy, King County Council member Greg Nickels, enjoyed a 6,914-vote lead over law-and-order conservative Mark Sidran at the end of the evening.

Tens of thousands of absentee ballots remained to be counted, however, making the race too close to call. Which means the only sure thing about the mayor's race is that whoever wins will be a rookie executive facing a strong City Council with veteran incumbents who plan on pushing their own agendas. That City Council will try to develop unity around the key issues facing the city: the budget and transportation. Both are downers. The budget numbers got even gloomier as the statewide tax revolt continued in full force with the passage of Tim Eyman's latest nasty, Initiative 747, which will bring deeper cuts at City Hall. And without money, it will be nearly impossible for the city to tackle its transportation problems.

WHILE THE FUTURE might be dire, the mood at Nickels' party at Carpenters Hall in Belltown was anything but. Instead, Nickels clearly felt victory close at hand as he grabbed the lead and built a large margin by the end of election night. The veteran King County Council member turned cheerleader, announcing: "It's a great evening. I'm having a good time—are you guys having a good time?" The crowd roared back, realizing that Nickels had passed rival Sidran. Just like during the primary election, Sidran led in the first tally (all early-filing absentee voters), but Nickels was buoyed the thousands of poll votes counted during the evening.

In a packed room smelling of booze and barbecue chicken, Nickels took the podium accompanied by his family, former Mayor Norm Rice, and King County Council colleague Larry Phillips. Nickels kept his nice-guy image intact, praising his campaign workers, challenger Sidran, and outgoing Mayor Paul Schell. "However this turns out tonight, it's very important we come together as leadership in this city," said Nickels, ending with a cheerful "Seattle Way" tagline: "This is a great city and better times are ahead."

Sidran supporters are hoping he's right, although the better times they're envisioning would come during this week's absentee vote counts. Just a few blocks from the Nickels party, in a First Avenue storefront, a gathering that had enthusiastically celebrated Sidran's early lead was losing steam as their candidate fell behind in the late returns.

Even as Sidran addressed his supporters at the opening of the 11 p.m. local television news broadcasts, the final set of election night numbers were emblazoned across the screen below him. One Sidran supporter jockeyed for a view of the TV screen, then gasped and stood teary-eyed as she saw that her candidate had fallen almost 7,000 votes behind Nickels.

At least the Sidran party had quality props. A huge, backlit American flag filled the front windows and supporters wore heart-shaped lapel pins with flashing red lights. In case anyone had missed the point, the Tin Woodsman from The Wizard of Oz stood by the podium with a sign reading "Sidran has heart."

Sidran began his speech with a trademark humorous touch. "Seven months ago, we began this campaign with a commitment to bring new leadership to our city and a belief that we could win," said Sidran, before adding mischievously. "Now, this was not a widely held belief..."

The three-term city attorney made reference to the conventional wisdom that his past tough-on-crime stands are a bit conservative by Seattle standards, expressing appreciation for those who were willing to lend their names to his campaign "even when that might have seemed imprudent politically."

Can Sidran come back in the absentee count? To do so, he would have to take more than 53 percent of the estimated 95,000 absentee ballots waiting to be counted. Given that Nickels was the choice of more than 56 percent of those who voted at the polls, that could be a tall order. But Sidran backers haven't given up on a comeback in the absentee tallies. As one prominent supporter said on his way out the door, "I hope we're all smiling by Thursday or Friday."

SPEAKING OF CLOSE RACES, folks weren't exactly jubilant over at Richard McIver's headquarters Tuesday night, as the city council member's strong early lead over maverick opponent Grant Cogswell wavered, dwindled, then almost disappeared altogether as late poll results came in. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen: Cogswell, a single-issue candidate dismissed by many as the most credible of a pack of certain losers, proved far more formidable than anyone could have predicted. By the end of the night, McIver was ahead by a slim, 4 percent margin, and Cogswell wasn't conceding anything.

The McIver crowd shouldn't worry too much. At the end of the evening, the incumbent led his opponent by 3,118 out of just over 69,000 votes cast; to make up that shortfall in the 75,000 votes still waiting to be counted, Cogswell would have to win those ballots by a four-point margin. Nothing happened on election night to indicate that would occur.