Let's start this post by looking on the bright side of all things Seattle sports related; more specifically, let's reflect for a moment on the fact that Seattle sports fans aren't suffering like they were in 2008.

• The Seahawks seem destined at this point to compete for Super Bowls over the next 3-5 years (if not longer) thanks to a bruising defense, an elite QB and a head coach who has strong CEO skills and a keen eye for talent.

• For the first time in years, it appears as if the Mariners are generating offense, excitement and hope with younger players rather than washed up veterans from other teams.

• It may not be my cup of tea (Go Cougs), but the Huskies are opening what looks to be a beautiful new football stadium with a program that's leaps and bounds ahead of where it was back in 2008.

• It's not going as well as some hoped it would this season (7th in the Western Conference with 1.39 points/game), but it appears the Sounders have established themselves since 2009 as a franchise that should be a viable Major League Soccer franchise for many, many years.

• And last but not least, there are realistic and viable plans on the table for a much needed NBA/NHL arena to be built in Seattle; and if that weren't enough, it would appear that Seattle has pushed itself to the front of the line for potential NBA and NHL expansion opportunities in the next 3-5 years in spite of not being able to take the Sacramento Kings or Phoenix Coyotes home to the Pacific Northwest.

With all that said though, there's obviously a huge elephant in the room that's causing consternation for Seattle sports fans this month. And that elephant is named Peter Steinbrueck; a politician who seems to fit a certain description of "I'm better than you" arrogance and condescension to the point where some voters (mostly only on the younger side) are tempted to punch brick walls and kick puppies when thinking about him.

But as it pertains to us Sonics fans, he's a man who is clearly committed to interfering as much as he can with the selection process for a potential NBA/NHL arena site to go along with his charade of being a "concerned citizen" that will somehow stand up for the rights of Seattle's working class when dealing with those big and scary "1%-ers" who are part of the dreaded "establishment."

So in the face of all of that, how much should Sonics fans fear Peter Steinbrueck and his political future?

First of all, let's talk about the August primary. Sonics fans who double as Seattle voters get their first opportunity to make Steinbrueck politically irrelevant with the mail-in "Top 2" primary that's taking place as we speak (don't forget, your ballot needs to be mailed by August 6 at 8 pm for it to count and you should be registered to vote by now).

The rules of the game are pretty simple. If Steinbrueck is one of the 2 top vote getters in the "50 Flavors of Liberal" City of Seattle primary, he gets a chance to compete in the general election in November. If not, he's done.

The latest poll commissioned by KING 5 would suggest that Steinbrueck is on his way towards becoming irrelevant; especially with State Senator Ed Murray gaining a lot of political steam in this race.

However, this poll is unfortunately not likely to reflect who will vote in the upcoming primary (old fogeys).

So being naturally curious, what I did over the past 2-3 days was go back and reweight the poll numbers and percentages on Excel based on a spinoff of the 2009 primary model (10% = 18-34 voters, 20% = 35-49 voters, 35% = 50-64 voters, 35% = 65+ voters).

What I then found was the top 4 candidates were much closer together than before as the totals for each candidate came out to the following:
Murray = 21.80%
McGinn = 18.38%
Steinbrueck = 16.59%
Harrell = 15.27%
Staadecker = 2.44%
M. Martin = 1.77%
K. Martin = 1.72%
Gray = 0.98%
McQuaid = 0.71%
UNDECIDED = 20.34%

For the top 4 candidates, this gave them a net gain/loss from the KING 5 poll of:
Harrell = +4.27%
Steinbrueck = +2.59%
Murray = -0.2%
McGinn = -2.62%

This is, in my opinion, a plausible scenario because it gives gains to Steinbrueck and Harrell for the increase in older voters and penalizes McGinn for his reliance on younger voters. As for Murray, his numbers essentially stay flat because of the fact he seems to be showing the best crossover appeal towards all age groups at this time.

From there, it was obviously time to group the undecided votes. For this undertaking, I went by Nate Silver's basic premise that "different undecided voters will jump into different camps" as opposed to just randomly jumping away from the incumbent. Going by this principle, I assumed the following: "If X amount of DECIDED voters from a particular voting demographic will vote for Y, then X amount of UNDECIDED voters from a particular voting demographic will also vote for Y."

The result of this exercise gave me the following results after 74.39% of undecided voters broke away from the incumbent (Mayor Bicycle/McGinn):
Murray = 27.60%
McGinn = 23.59%
Steinbrueck = 20.59%
Harrell = 18.63%

So even with an older electorate, this looks like a happy ending for Sonics fans with Steinbrueck out of the picture while McGinn and Murray run campaigns that smear the hell out of each other.

Except there's a catch; the 3% that Steinbrueck trails McGinn by is within the poll's +/- 4.5% margin of error. So all of this number crunching could turn on its head if support for a candidate in a particular cross tab (particularly on the older side) doesn't come close to reflecting reality.

Hence why it's so important for Sonics fans who live in Seattle to vote in this primary and very possibly in November as well. Any apathy on the part of Sonics fans could lead to at least an outside chance for a Steinbrueck victory in November.

As for the arena process, what would it mean if Steinbrueck somehow snuck through the primary with 20% or so of the vote and rode off his daddy's coattails and/or an anti-McGinn sentiment to a November victory?

Obviously no one knows the answer to that question with 100% certainty. But if I had to take an educated guess, my belief would be if the final vote for an arena site as it relates to the EIS took place in the 1st or 2nd quarter of next year, Steinbrueck would veto the SODO site only to have his veto undone with 6 or 7 "YES" votes for the SODO site from City Council (Clark, Burgess, Harrell, Bagshaw, Rasmussen, Godden and O'Brien if he keeps his job).

I could understand how some would come to the conclusion that "political math" would entice City Council members to change their opinions immediately after a Steinbrueck election win. But keep in mind that City Council did not even come close to giving the MOU McGinn helped consummate last year a rubber stamp. In fact, the City Council will be able to stand their political ground when it comes to the arena deal next year by correctly pointing out how they forced some key concessions out of Chris Hansen (particularly as it related to traffic mitigation) to make a 7-2 "YES" vote possible. So from that sense, I don't think there's going to be anything to fear next year when it comes to City Council's commitment to seeing the arena process through.

Having said that though, I do feel like the realistic fear as it relates to the MOU that should exist with a Steinbrueck election victory pertains to the 2015 election season. If no NBA team has been granted to Seattle by that time (with only 2 years left on the MOU) and Steinbrueck has a healthy mayoral approval rating by November '15, there's the very real possibility he'll have enough political capital by then to potentially campaign against MOU supporters like Sally Clark, Tim Burgess, Jean Godden, Bruce Harrell and Tom Rasmussen (who will all be up for reelection that year). And if Steinbrueck's dream political scenario played out in 2015 to the point where the City Council would overturn the MOU with 6 votes, it'd likely be time to hope that a Bellevue (or Seattle Center) alternative surfaces.

Since arena proposals don't grow on trees, it's obvious we'd be better off as Sonics fans not taking that kind of political risk. Hence why we need to vote Steinbrueck out as quickly as we can.

I personally don't care who wins the mayoral election (other than you-know-who) since Seattle is "50 Shades of Liberal" and I'm not one of them; but it is my opinion that it's a bit risky at this time for Sonics fans to publicly campaign for Mike McGinn since siding with McGinn could paint the picture for arena opponents that Chris Hansen has quietly decided to endorse McGinn for reelection when that's not really the case. Plus, in case you haven't heard, McGinn is not exactly the most popular guy in Seattle right now (31% approval rating and 50% disapproval rating in a KING 5 poll that oversamples younger voters).

But whatever you decide to do as it relates to the primary, just go vote.

So many people in the business, political and grassroots communities have thrown their support (and money) behind this tremendous NBA/NHL arena proposal Chris Hansen helped create and it's a proposal that I believe STILL has widespread support in our community. Case and point, when you look at this year's Seattle Times mayoral guide and my reweighted KING 5 poll numbers, it shows that a staggering 73.81% of primary voters will pick a candidate who at least conditionally supports the MOU. And if that total doesn't end up at 73.81%, I'm sure it'll be a pretty high number.

So there's no reason to turn back now.

If you live in Seattle (which I don't) and you're a Sonics fan, go vote.

Go vote because no results are guaranteed in the election at this time as it relates to any of the Top 4 candidates and nothing is guaranteed in this election as it relates to seeing all of the contracted 4-5 years of shelf life in the MOU be fulfilled.

Go vote because Peter Steinbrueck is an a**hole and we don't need fake/lying politicians like him in civic government.

Vote early. Vote often. Vote Sonics (and NHL Seattle).