Last week's expected announcement by U.S. Rep. Linda Smith that she would for Patty Murray's Senate seat in 1998 carries at least three useful reminders of the limits of our current version of electoral politics:

1) 1998?! Yes, it really does require 18 months of preparation, even by someone already in Congress, to run for office. Actually, savvy politicos plot these things out several years in advance. Fund-raising, and getting and staying elected, have become the full-time profession of legislators. That's why it's so helpful to have lobbyists around to write the bills and make roll call.

2) One party, two wings. So you've got this grass roots female ex- state legislator, now in Congress, who was elected to go in and shake things up but has in fact been a relentless apologist for big money. Some choice. Murray has, among many other things, supported the salvage rider, welfare decimation, the Hanford restart, military budgets, corporate welfare, and the grotesquely misnamed Defense of Marriage Act. Smith has voted with Newt Gingrich over 90% of the time; the only thing that has distinguished her from the Metcalfs and Tates has been her advocacy of a deeply flawed campaign finance "reform" that would still allow big money (especially Republican big money) to dominate Congress. It's a shame the two can't be combined in body as well as spirit; Patti Smith (the singer and poet) would make a much better Senator.

3) The bankruptcy of identity politics. As if Gary Locke, Ellen Craswell, Norm Rice, and all nine members of the whiteguyless Seattle City Council weren't enough evidence, this race will remind us all over again that just because a candidate is a woman, a person of color, or queer doesn't mean s/he will be an advocate for the disadvantaged--or even for others from her group. Voting for someone solely because that person is a woman, a Latino, etc. is not only idiotic--it's what both Republicans and Democrats count on these days when they put up such stalking horse candidates.

With 18 months before the Nov. 98 elections, there's still time, one would hope, for better candidates to emerge. Perhaps someone reading this very article. Perhaps you. Start planning now!