Five local questions for tonight's results

As I write, the networks just called it for Barack Obama.

In case you're just turning your attention to making sense of all those other races, let's think about the interesting questions left for Clark County ballots.

1) Will Clark County go blue in the presidential race, as it did in '88, '92 and '96?

2) Which way will Clark County's margin for governor go from 2004, when Dino Rossi won 52.8 to 44.7, with 2.5 percent Libertarian? (In 2000, even as the county went solid Bush, former Democratic Gov. Gary Locke creamed John Carlson 54.2 to 43.3.)

3) Will the suburban 17th legislative district, which includes east Vancouver, Brush Prairie, the Padden Parkway area and WSUV, get bluer or redder? It's already got a split legislative delegation, and windy-road, drive-till-you-qualify subdivisions like these are tomorrow's political battlegrounds. Key indicators: Obama v. McCain, Gregoire v. Rossi and Democrat Tim Probst v. Republican Joseph James for state house. (In 2004, Bush beat Kerry 53.6 to 45.2 and Rossi beat Gregoire 54.7 to 42.8.) Whichever party is on the upswing here has a rosy future in the state of Washington.

4) Will Clark County have a slow-growth Democratic majority on its board of commissioners, centered on Pam Brokaw and Steve Stuart? Or a fast-growth Republican one, centered on Marc Boldt and Tom Mielke?

5) Will Obama's coattails help semi-long-shot Democrats like David Carrier for state senate or Jeanne Harris for county commissioner?

In less than an hour, we should know.

michael.andersen@columbian.com