There's been a lot of speculation in Pierce County political circles over the past year about the next career move for county Executive John Ladenburg. He's prohibited by term limits from seeking a third term next year.

The latest theory is that Ladenburg, a Democrat and former Pierce County prosecutor, will challenge Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna. We've been asking around and checking with Public Disclosure Commission filings, but nothing confirmed so far.

Still, Ladenburg's name came up today in an Associated Press report on McKenna's campaign kickoff this morning in Bellevue.

No one is officially running against McKenna yet. But Democrats are touting Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg, who must retire due to term limits.
Ladenburg is on vacation and couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

The Olympian's political editor, Brad Shannon, reports that backers of the school levy measure on the Nov. 6 ballot expect to declare victory today.

Recent vote counts on Substitute House Joint Resolution 4204 have reversed the Election Night result, reversing an initial deficit and taking the lead as of Tuesday. The People for Our Public Schools campaign committee plans an announcement at 1:30 today at campaign headquarters, celebrating an end to the 60 percent supermajority requirement for passage of special levies for school operations.

SHJR 4204 reduces the vote requirement to a simple majority, or 50 percent plus one vote.

"We’ve been looking at the votes all night," campaign spokesman Bill Monto said, eying a 6,952-vote advantage that makes it probable the campaign will declare victory despite nearly 69,000 votes uncounted.

"I think that is rather likely,” Monto said. "If trends continue our lead will grow from here on out."

Read more on Shannon's Notes from the Campaign Trail blog.

UPDATE: Backers did indeed declare victory today. Here's an updated story on our home page.