REFUSE TO LOSE? SEATTLE STADIUM MEASURE HAS "FALLEN APART"

     A compromise plan to finance a new stadium for the Mariners
and renovate the Kingdome for the Seahawks "has fallen apart,"
according to this morning's SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER.  House
Speaker Clyde Ballard (R) and Senate Majority Leader Marc Gaspard
(D) decided not to hold a vote on the plan yesterday because "too
few lawmakers were willing to support it."  Michael Paulson notes
lawmakers are scheduled to continue their special session to
debate the issue today, "but a deep divide appears to have opened
between lawmakers who negotiated the deal."  Ballard on the
proposal: "The biggest red flag of all is that there are going to
be state dollars out of the state budget.  You don't have to be
Einstein to figure out that was going to be a problem,"  but he
added, "We're going to work on ways to get the votes" (SEATTLE
POST-INTELLIGENCER, 10/13).
     BREAK IT ON DOWN: Paulson writes 55% of the House Democrats
and "more than" 50% of the Senate Democrats support the measure.
"No more than" 33% of House Republicans and 25% of Senate
Republicans support the financing plan (SEATTLE POST-
INTELLIGENCER, 10/13).