With the easy passage of Initiative 872 (“Top Two” primary), Washington state voters have fiercely protected their independence from those self-serving, grasping political parties. That’s the conventional wisdom, but then along comes Will Baker to challenge the legend.

Will who? Exactly.

Will Baker was the Republican candidate for state auditor. You’re excused from not knowing him, because he slipped past the state Republican Party, too. As the summer deadline neared for placing names on the ballot, Republicans didn’t have a candidate to run against three-time incumbent Democrat Brian Sonntag. Baker, a roadside flower vendor, then stepped forward, and quicker than you can say “background check,” his name was placed on the ballot.

Republicans soon learned that Baker, of Tacoma, had been arrested and booked into the Pierce County Jail 19 times since 1992 for serial public disruptions. He refuses to stop talking at Tacoma City Council and Pierce County Council meetings. He was released from jail on June 24 for his most recent transgressions — just in time to volunteer for the state auditor’s race.

“We didn’t check him out,” state GOP chairman Chris Vance said in an Associated Press article. Party officials scrambled to get him removed from the ballot, but it was too late. A list of Republican candidates at the state party’s Web site omits that contest.

Each candidate got to choose a statement for the secretary of state’s voters guide. Baker took the opportunity to accuse two FBI agents of participating in a cover-up of the David Brame case. Brame was the Tacoma police chief who killed his ex-wife and committed suicide. Baker’s allegation got the attention of the U.S. attorney’s office, which filed a libel claim.

In a comic understatement, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office said, “It’s a highly unusual event that federal employees would be accused of wrongful conduct in a candidate’s statement, I imagine.”

No big deal. In other states, where voters are slavishly devoted to political party brands, Baker might rack up hundreds of thousands of votes. But not in Washington, right? I mean, who would want an auditor who can’t stay out of jail, is obsessed with a murder case and has no discernible qualifications for the job?

Ha!

As of Friday morning, a total of 677,097 voters selected Baker. That’s right. He’s gotten 32 percent of the vote, with thousands of absentee ballots still to be counted. Thus far, he is winning in six counties: Adams, Benton, Franklin, Grant, Lincoln and Stevens. He’s very close in others, such as Pend Oreille, Ferry, Douglas, Garfield and Columbia.

Meanwhile, Libertarian Jason Bush has gotten a mere 75,694 votes. What does he have to do to get attention? Get arrested? Actually, Bush was just one letter away from getting as many votes as Baker. The letter is “R.” Stick that next to a candidate, any candidate, and he or she can expect an avalanche of votes in conservative counties. The same is true of Democrats in liberal counties.

If that runs counter to your beliefs that Washington voters are uniquely wise and independent and thus in need of primary system unlike any other in the nation, check out the results in Spokane County.

Baker has more votes than attorney general candidate Deborah Senn and schools superintendent candidate Judith Billings. He isn’t far behind congressional candidate Don Barbieri.

In every county where Baker leads, he’s gotten more votes than John Kerry. He’ll probably end up winning more counties than Maria Cantwell did in her 2000 U.S. Senate race.

Now, I hesitate to raise the specter of straight-party-ticket voting, but isn’t that a better explanation than a careful weighing of the relative merits of the candidates – and coming up with a guy who is on a first-name basis with jailers?

Yes, it seems that Washingtonians are just as wedded to party affiliation as brand-loyal sheep in other states. Sorry, voters, but Will Baker has blown your cover.