Takeaways from the Capitol Hill/Central Area election forum

Hi. I'm Joe Mallahan. (Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs)

Or the Central Area/Capitol Hill forum, depending on who had the microphone Monday night. You can find full notes and several pictures from the night's proceedings here. In the meantime, here are some bullet point takeaways from the event.

• I'm amazed candidates are so in need of getting in front of people that they'll subject themselves to loud buzzers, half-baked formats and not-always-well-worded questions. Guess that's democracy.
• Wherever the lightning round idea came from, it should probably be done away with. Check out this lightning round derailment complete with Greg Nickels calling a timeout. Shouldn't that be former NBA player James Donaldson's job?
  
• This mayoral lightning round exchange was, on the other hand, illuminating. The challenge: Name three Central Area or Capitol Hill community councils or associations. Some of the guesses these guys throw up are kind of hilarious.
  
• Speaking of, um, throwing up, I was worried for Tom Tobin, candidate for City Council position 4. He punted on a few answers mid-sentence and looked lost and a little confused on stage. Seattle Times was brutal in its review.
• Nickels kept his cool, Mike McGinn was good enough and Jan Drago seemed toned down a notch.
• Kwame Wyking Garrett got the most applause on the evening and was rolling out some decent stump skills.
• City Council candidates that stood out by saying something memorable and being able to manage the short 1-minute answer opportunities: David Miller, Richard Conlin, Sally Bagshaw, Jessie Israel (bonus points for being most adept at forcing her endorsements into answers), Robert Rosencrantz.
• Can't say the School Board position 5 discussion made our mind up though Kay Smith-Blum's answers were the most coherent and succinct of the bunch.

For more coverage of the forum check out this write-up from the Seattle Times:
Candidates sweat the details at Mt. Zion Baptist Church