"After four weeks and $5 million, potential Seahawks
owner Paul Allen's campaign to build a new football stadium
is winning at home but still lagging among women," according
to Rebecca Boren of the SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER. A new
poll for the Post-Intelligencer and KOMO-TV "shows that
women are evenly divided" over the $425M stadium complex,
with 46% "saying they will vote for Referendum 48," and 46%
"saying they won't." The statewide poll of 800 "likely
voters" showed the stadium measure ahead 48-44%, with a
margin of error of +/- 3.5%. Allen's "Our Team Works"
campaign said "it plans to spend a lot more money ... wooing
female voters to his cause." As the vote nears, the two
opposition campaigns "intend to continue their modest
advertising efforts and their own get-out-the-vote drives."
"No on 48" is bringing consumer activist Ralph Nader to
speak against the stadium in Seattle and Vancouver. Our
Team Works "plans a major weekend effort" to get-out-the
vote (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 6/12).
WHO IS PAUL ALLEN? In Seattle, Linda Keene profiled
Allen, and wrote, "Above and beyond football, Allen is
leaving his civic footprint on almost every aspect of
Northwest life -- the arts, environment, recreation, medical
research, education and the economy as he invests in a host
of companies. ... Despite his growing civic role, he remains
an enigma. Allen rarely makes public appearances or
conducts media interviews -- and he is dodging the campaign
limelight like an all-pro running back. Allen has addressed
the public just once -- to a camera for a stadium
commercial" (SEATTLE TIMES, 6/11).
NOW THAT'S A CAMPAIGN: The campaign in support of
Referendum 48 "will exceed" $5M by Tuesday's vote, making it
"the most expensive campaign" in WA state history, according
to David Schaefer of the SEATTLE TIMES. Previously, the
most expensive campaign was Slade Gorton's '94 re-election
to the U.S. Senate, which cost $4.8M. Schaefer: "But what
makes the Referendum 48 total even more significant is that
the money was spent in less than two months, while other
campaigns occupied as much as a year" (SEATTLE TIMES, 6/11).
