Portside

Tuesday's election showed gains for progressives and labor-backed candidates, and also for socialists. In Seattle, Kshama Sawant received 46.1% of the total vote for City Council. However, the count of the most recently counted votes gives her 49.69%. Even if her opponent holds on, he has announced that he will not run again - against her or anyone else.

At present the polls wobble between six and nine percent for The Left. Yet if ardent speeches like those three, with no punches pulled, can be followed by an equally vigorous election campaign, that two digit goal, though by no means easy, may not be unattainable.