It hasn’t been a banner month of campaigning for Joe Mallahan. He’s

It hasn’t been a banner month of campaigning for Joe Mallahan. He’s spent much of his time in seclusion, learning about the city. Meanwhile, his campaign manager has done most of the talking. (Call it the Weekend at Bernie’s strategy.) When he’s come out, he’s put his foot in his mouth, like when he admitted to driving six blocks to work every day, or like when he attacked McGinn’s light rail plan for potentially being on the same ballot as a levy he didn’t vote for the last time around, ignoring the fact that Seattleites don’t have a problem voting for more than one measure at a time. (To be fair, the McGinn campaign’s “Empire Way” screw-up was pretty foot-in-mouth as well.)Nevertheless, the man keeps picking up endorsements. Earlier this week, he got business, in the form of the Alki Foundation’s nod. And yesterday, he picked up the King County Labor Council, an ironic twist after labor money helped fund Nickels’ last-minute anti-Mallahan ads. The key, of course, is the tunnel, a favorite of both downtown business and the labor who will work on it. (See also Laura Onstot’s assessment of Mallahan’s poll numbers, where he finds himself in the early lead.) Stay mum and gain ground? Nice work if you can get it.