All about the ballot initiatives: Lopsided spending, new polling

Plus some on-theme recommended reading.

If you were watching the festival of bad football that was the Seahawks' loss to the 49ers on Oct. 10, you got a massive dose of politics to go with Geno Smith’s interceptions. Among the avalanche of advertisements was a lone spot from Let’s Go Washington, in which the conservative initiative machine casts Pinocchio as the spokesman for its opposition. 

The spot supporting its slate of four initiatives cost the committee about $200K to run during the  Thursday Night Football game. This number jumped out at us when we were combing through filings to the Public Disclosure Commission because that single ad amounted to about 10% of LGW’s campaign cash during the crucial period between Sept. 1 and Oct. 14. In the broader context of the spending on both sides of these initiatives, that looks like the kind of high-risk gamble you might take if you were sitting in a poker game with a bunch of richer players.