One day to go before the first political tests of state legislative and U.S. Congressional and Senate candidates. I asked three guys who follow politics closely - KING 5 TV's Robert Mak, the Seattle PI's Joel Connelly, and Seattle Times Editorial-Page Editor Ryan Blethen - which races they're most interested in tomorrow.

"The conventional wisdom is that it's going to be a good year for Republicans and the question is how big is that wave going to be," says Mak.

Connelly, who's been with the PI for 33 years, says this primary will give us "the first test of strength between Senator Patty Murray and her Republican challengers in what promises to be a very hard-fought Senate race."

Beyond Patty Murray and Dino Rossi, there are 13 people in the U.S. Senate race alone and dozens of unfamiliar names on the ballots.

Blethen says one thing that surprises him about the primary is the number of people running for office who "aren't qualified."

"I've been a bit shocked by some of the lack of quality of some of the candidates this primary," says Blethen. "A lot of them aren't well funded and probably won't get that far, which is probably a good thing."

Zeroing in on key races, Connelly says two Washington State Supreme Court positions will likely be decided in the primary election. Jim Johnson and Richard Sanders are up for re-election. Sanders is being challenged by Charlie Wiggins and Johnson faces Stan Rumbaugh.

He thinks the most interesting and important state legislative race is between Diane Tebelius, the former Republican state chair, is challenging state representative Ross Hunter on the Eastside.

Mak says the legislative races he watches are the area called the suburban crescent - Auburn, Bellevue, and cities into Snohomish County.

"Those are the interesting races where there are a lot of swing districts and those are the ones to watch," he says. "If we start seeing Republicans beating Democrats in those swing districts, then that's a sign of what to watch for in November." If Republicans show strength in the key seats in the suburbs, they ultimately could gain control of some of one or both houses in the legislature.

A closely watched congressional district is the 8th, where the Seattle Times endorsed Suzan DelBene and Tim Dillon, not the incumbent Dave Reichert.

"Those two earned it more," says Blethen. "They were more prepared. They seemed to have a better grasp of what needs to be done in congress than Congressman Reichert did."

Blethen says if there's a widespread feeling with voters wanting to throw incumbents out of office in our state, we'll know after tomorrow.

"If it doesn't work in the primary you're probably going to be left with the two more traditional type candidates," he says.

What races are you interested in for the Primary Election on Tuesday? Will you fill out your ballot?

Voter response in Tuesday's primary in Washington is expected to set a record. Ballots were mailed to 3.59 million registered voters in the state. Secretary of State Sam Reed predicts a 38 percent ballot return rate for the mid-term primary. King County estimates 45 percent of voters will return ballots.

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8th Congressional District

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