This editorial will appear in Thursday's print edition.

Maybe it was the lovely summer evening, but the thousands who showed up Tuesday at Lakewood’s Harry Lang Stadium to talk heath care were in a surprisingly good mood.

Congressman Adam Smith, D-Tacoma, booked the stadium after the RSVP list for his town hall meeting outgrew two smaller venues.

Smith’s previous town hall meeting, in late July, drew 300 people, an impressive head count for its time. But town hall meetings have since hit the big time, with the national media attention and the get-out-the-protest campaigns to prove it.

These days, a Democrat who can’t draw a crowd big enough to cause the fire marshal consternation should be worried that voters don’t think he or she matters.

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The subject of our editorial today – outgoing Pierce County Prosecutor Gerry Horne – takes issue with some of the numbers cited.

I wrote, "Today, an estimated 150 to 200 offenders are not being released to Pierce County each year who in earlier years would have been." I picked up those numbers from a Viewpoint by state Sen. Mike Carrell, who was instrumental in getting "fair share" legislation passed in 2007. He cited the prosecutor's office as his source.

Horne argues that the impact is even greater. And he wrote: "I guess we'll have to talk with Sen. Carrell to track down what I believe to be misleading stats."

Here's Horne's take on the numbers:

You indicate that "an estimated 150 to 200 offenders are not being released to Pierce County each year who in earlier years would have been."

Those stats grossly minimize the numbers of prison convicts who were actually sent to Pierce County every year during a 25-year period. Actually, 900 to 1,000 prison convicts had been sent to Pierce County each year to attend state work release programs alone!

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Congressman Adam Smith, moderate that is, told neither side of the health care reform debate exactly what it wanted to hear Tuesday night. His town hall meeting in Lakewood was raucous but only by Northwest standards. Participants were passionate but generally respectful. If only citizens were always so engaged.

The intriguing graffiti mural proposed for Tacoma’s Rialto Theater is a legitimate art form and may discourage vandalism.

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

Via e-mail exchanges, here's the evolution of the Chris Britt cartoon above honoring the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. A black-and-white version will appear in Thursday's print edition.

Chris, who used to cartoon for us, is now at the State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill. We subscribe to his syndicated cartoons, and he often sends them to me earlier than he sends them to the syndicate, especially on breaking topics.

CHRIS, 9:03 a.m.: I'll have a Kennedy cartoon to you very soon.

ME, 9:06 a.m.: Tasteful, I hope. No sinking VWs (which I expect to get from Ramirez*).

CHRIS, 9:07 a.m.: Very much so. I'm going to have Teddy sailing off in his sailboat. The boat will be labeled "The Lion." Above the visual will be a Teddy quote.

I considered having his brothers and sisters waiting for him in heaven, but there will be loads of those.

Yes, Ramirez will do something like that.

ME, 9:11 a.m.: I think your first instinct is best. Some of the most powerful obit cartoons are very simple.

CHRIS, 9:13 a.m.: OK. That is what I think too. I'll send it to you after lunch. Thanks for the feedback.

I could have Teddy crashing into the pearly gates in his car? (kidding)

* Cartoonist Michael Ramirez, who is likely to come up with a Kennedy cartoon that is, shall we say, less than complimentary.

Bob raises a valid question about our editorial on the allegation that Federal Way Municipal Court Judge Michael Morgan assumed a clerk's online identity to post disparaging comments about his opponents.

Why can't “Christine Faucher” be lying? Just because she asked city officials to investigate doesn't mean she is in the clear. She probably realizes that unless they have a camera pointed at the computer it is impossible to tell who logged on at a specific time. Nothing like throwing out a red herring for the hound dogs to follow...

Anything's possible, but what Bob suggests would be a rather twisted plot. Faucher gets a hold of Morgan's password somehow, sneaks into Morgan's office when he's away, logs in as him, then logs back out, logs back in under the general user account, posts the comments under her name, then cries foul to city officials.

If Faucher had been looking to implicate Morgan, wouldn't she have made the comments while logged into Morgan's account? Or maybe she didn't have his password, but dashed into his office while he was away and logged into the general user account to post the comment?

That would have been quite daring on her part since the city's Internet log shows Morgan would have been away from his computer for only a few minutes. What's more, Faucher (or whoever this imposter was) would have had to sneak into Morgan's office three separate times on Aug. 3 to post two comments to the Federal Way Mirror site and submit a registration for The News Tribune site.

I recommend reading the city's timeline of events, which also offers this interesting tidbit: Someone logged into Michael Morgan's computer as Michael Morgan at 7:18 p.m. on Aug. 3 to look up RCW 42.17.130. The title of that statute? "Use of public office or agency facilities in campaigns."