Our earlier (and updated) piece on Washington State.

BikePortland.org: National leaders weigh in.

Bicycle Retailer: A strong advocate meets defeat.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Will Republican wave wash out bike lane?

BikingBis: Bike advocates shift to defense.

Cyclelicious: a potpourri of election day news results.

BikesideLA updates Cyclist Bill of Rights.

But some key losses, plus Republican gains and the tenor of the election overall, may put bike advocates in a more defensive position.

“We’ll be in the position of defending good state laws as opposed to advocating new legislation,” said David Hiller, Cascade’s advocacy director and cycling’s key point person in the Olympia legislature. Cascade will still work to persuade the State Legislature to adopt vulnerable-user legislation — which made considerable progress while falling short of approval the past two years — in the new legislative session, Hiller said. But “it’ll be more of an uphill battle,” he admitted.

The state senate, always more of a roadblock, particularly “presents a difficult picture,” Hiller said. “We will really miss Senators Randy Gordon and Eric Oemig.” Other key supporters in the loss column included Reps. Roger Goodman (45th District) and Geoff Simpson (47th). Goodman “was a big fan of vulnerable-user legislation.”

In the meantime, our incomplete (and early) tabulation showed 35 Cascade-endorsed candidates winning and just six coming up short. (Cascade endorsed 50 candidates overall; some returns have not been reported as of this writing.)

Hiller said Cascade is waiting on 10 races still too close to call, with six trending favorably.

Big winners included Joe McDermott for King County Council (68 percent), Rep. Jay Inslee (not on Cascade’s list but a big club booster), at 56 percent, State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles (82 percent), Rep. Eileen Cody (79 percent) and Representatives Bob Hasegawa, Sam Hunt and Maralyn Chase, among others.

Other supporters cited by Hiller included Senator Adam Kline, an overwhelming victor at 87 percent in the 37th District, and Reps. Joe Fitzgibbon (34th) and Marko Liias (21st).

Additional Cascade-backed candidates who appeared to be turned away included Rep. Tom Campbell (2nd District), Sumner Schoenike (26th District), Jake Fey (27th District) and Senator Chris Marr (6th District).

Further reading: Around the nation, cycling candidates faced varied success.

First, the cyclist, Chris Long, says: “I don’t think he ever really intended to assault me.” OK, um, then why file assault charges?

Then this gem from the cop’s lawyer, talking about the cop’s report on the incident (wherein he lied): “The important part to remember is, regardless of what’s on these documents, if at the time you filled them out you believe you’re being truthful, then that’s really all that should matter.” So … we should leave the decision about whether someone is lying up to the accused liar himself? Isn’t this why we have trials and juries — to determine whether someone is lying? Couldn’t someone just shoot someone else and say, I didn’t know at the time I was shooting him!?

The ultimate puzzler is how the jury could find the cop guilty of lying but not of assault. Perhaps they’re fans of George Clooney in the “Ocean’s 11″ remake. When accused by ex-wife Julia Roberts of being a liar and a thief, Clooney offers the defense: “I only lied about being a thief” (at 1:43 in video below).

Case closed!

Rider Down: We don’t know Wes Castro but this shouldn’t have to happen to anyone.

Sanyo’s new “Loop Charge” e-bikes are on the way.

Kim Baenisch, executive director of Marin County Bicycle Coalition, is interviewed by the Marin Independent Journal. “It is endlessly rewarding to know that my work is positively impacting the lives of Marin’s residents and visitors through the creation or improvement of bicycle and pedestrian facilities like the Cal Park Hill Tunnel, bike lanes on local streets, bike parking in downtown areas and the 70-mile multiuse path that will accompany the SMART train.”

This is a tough call. I’ve answered the phone while riding myself. You think: Just a coupla secs, where’s the harm?

But come on. It’s seriously not a good idea. Cyclists jabbering on their cell phones while riding one-handed down busy city streets and highways certainly are putting not only their own lives at stake but those of others around them. A distracted rider could easily swerve or lose control or run a light or do any of the things drivers (and pedestrians for that matter) do while using a phone, causing a chain reaction of traffic leading to a catastrophe.

Moreover, cyclists campaign ceaselessly for equal access to streets and highways. That implies equal levels of responsibility.

Our take: Apply the law to cyclists. We can quibble over whether penalties should be lighter for cyclists because they pose less threat to others than a two-ton steel behemoth. But that’s petty and sidetracks the real issue, which is distracted driving (or pedaling or walking) as a threat to all transportation users. This is one issue not worth marginalizing cyclist’s influence and playing to the kook factor over.

In Washington State they can’t even get texting (by adults anyway) completely banned — you have to be doing something else wrong as well to be pulled over. Interesting that the law was framed to The Seattle Times as anti-business by — I’ll let you guess — a Republican!

Could it be to protect all the Microsofties on their torturous daily commutes to and from Redmond? D’ya think?

The widely supported, much publicized “Vulnerable Users” bill has died a lonesome death in the Washington State senate, despite the efforts of Cascade Bicycle Club. Bright side: The bill made it out of committee — something that could not be said for its antecedent last year. Dark side: It was a more general, more “politic” form of legislation that emphasized rehabilitation and education rather than punishment — and still couldn’t make it to a vote. Far side: The bizarre, unfair situation will still exist that cyclists can be killed with only a “failure to yield” ticket being issued — if a ticket is issued at all. As David Hiller, Cascade’s advocacy director, put it, people are always startled to discover that “the penalty for not stopping for a pedestrian in a crosswalk is the same penalty as not stopping for a pedestrian and killing them.”