How an unknown went from impulse candidate to the doorstep of Seattle city attorney's office

Democracy vouchers, timely press, endorsements lift Nicole Thomas-Kennedy

The Observer pays pretty granular attention to politics, but we have to confess that we mostly missed the early signs of the unlikely rise of Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, the former public defender who now has to be viewed as the favorite to be Seattle’s next city attorney.

But figuring out how and why things happen in politics is what we do here, so we set ou…