Those who have followed the posts at my main site, Jim Miller on Politics, will know that I will vote tomorrow for George W. Bush for president and for George Nethercutt for the senate. I have said less there about the choices down the ticket from the top two, and so I am summarizing my choices here. After each choice, you'll see a number giving my certainty about the choice, ranging from 1 to 5, where 1 is marginal and 5 is absolutely certain. In most cases, the lower numbers reflect less knowledge, rather than negatives.

• Governor: Dino Rossi (3). The Democrats have controlled the governor's office in Washington state since the 1980s. Many reforms are needed are needed in Washington's government; few are likely with Christine Gregoire as governor.
• Attorney General: Rob McKenna (5). McKenna is exceptionally well qualified. His opponent, Deborah Senn, is worse than unqualified.  She was a disaster as state insurance commissioner and would be even worse as attorney general, since that office can meddle in nearly everything. I have thought, though not too seriously, that her election might make me move to Idaho.
• Lands Commissioner: Doug Sutherland (5). Sutherland has been managing the state forests just the way I want them managed, as a good farmer manages his farm. He is backed by the State Farm Bureau and opposed by the Sierra Club, two good signs.
• Secretary of State: Sam Reed (4). The Democratic party backed, nearly unanimously, the 1993 "Motor Voter" Act, which has contributed so much to vote fraud. Since then, I have been wary of allowing any Democrat to count votes. I am especially wary of those who have conducted dirty campaigns, as Reed's opponent, Laura Ruderman, did in her first race. I would have given Reed 5 points if he had said nothing about the proposal for a Initiative 872, which I oppose.
• Superintendent of Public Instruction: Terry Bergeson (5). The incumbent, Bergeson, has not worked as hard for reform as I would like, but she has been far better than her opponent, former superintendent Judith Billings, who would set back educational progress in the state.
• State Treasurer: Oscar Lewis (1). Because I trust Republicans a little more with money than I do Democrats.
• Lieutenant Governor: Brad Owen (1). His Republican challenger does not seem like a plausible candidate.
• State Auditor: Brian Sonntag (5). Sonntag is widely respected among both Democrats and Republicans. His Republican opponent is a flake.
• Insurance Commissioner: John Adams (2). Because I would rather have a business friendly Republican in the office, after all the damage Senn did.
• Supreme Court, Position 1: Jim Johnson (3). Because I like his backers much better than I like his opponent's backers.
• Supreme Court Position 6: Richard Sanders (1). The two KVI hosts, Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson, split on this choice and I am conflicted. Wilbur believes that Sanders' support for civil liberties makes up for his soft attitude toward criminals; Carlson disagrees. I might not vote for Sanders if I did not expect him to be in the court minority on most issues.

As well as voting on all those candidates, we in Washington state get to vote on five issues, fewer than usual.

• Initiative 297: No (5). The initiative would set up a bureaucracy, with jobs for extremists, to solve a minor problem (nuclear wastes) that is already being solved.
• Initiative 872: No (5). The "blanket" primary that Washington had was not my first choice for choosing candidates, but it was what voters here wanted. The court decision killing it was unwarranted. Unfortunately, this proposal, to provide for a top two run off, regardless of party, would make matters worse.
• Initiative 884: No (5). Decades of experience providing more money to educational bureaucracies have shown that we need reform, rather than more money.  The initiative provides money without reform.
• Initiative 892: No. (1). This is a bad idea whose time has not come. We need to get rid of the Indian monopoly on some kinds of gambling, but not by spreading gambling even farther.
• Referendum 55: Yes (5). Initiative 884 provides money without reform; this modest proposal for charter schools provides reform without requiring additional taxes.

I will vote for Randy Eastwood (5) for Congress, rather than Democrat Jay Inslee. I would vote for a yellow dog rather than Jay Inslee. I will vote for both Republican candidates for the state House, James Whitfield (3) and Rodney Tom (5). Whitfield is an interesting candidate, but he does seem to have moved to this district, quite recently, just to run for office. I would advise voting for Republicans generally for Washington's legislature — at least if you favor reform. Not all Republicans will back reform, but they are less tied to the public employee unions than the Democrats.

The local judicial races are always difficult for me, since the candidates are not allowed to tell us what they will do. I will vote for Julia Garratt (3) for Position 23 on the King County Superior Court because she has been a prosecutor and does not appear to be a left wing extremist, unlike her opponent, Andrea Darvas. I will vote for Christopher Washington (2) for Position 42 on the King County Superior Court because, unlike his opponent, he has not been endorsed by the King County Democrats.