If Marilyn Strickland could pick a superpower, she would choose mind reading.

“I’m very good at understanding what motivates people,” she says. “And you need that to get things moving in politics.”

It’s those kinds of honest insights that made Marilyn Strickland the nearly unanimous pick for Best Politician in the Weekly Volcano’s 2010 Best of Tacoma Readers’ Poll. Best Politician is not any kind of insult. It means best, not best at being a dispassionate, manipulative bureaucrat. Strickland swims with the sharks, but she ain’t cold yet. She says she’s learned a few things, though, and wishes she’d known others.

“Regardless of where people are coming from, people always believe they have the best intentions in mind,” says Strickland. “Oh, and faith and patriotism do not belong to one party or another.”
The first time I met Tacoma’s mayor, we were sitting at Pacific Grill with 30 of Tacoma’s big players and international economic development superhero Richard Florida. We talked about hip-hop for a while. Then we talked about Tacoma’s soul. Then we talked about local politics. It didn’t take long to realize that she loves this city. She means it. I know when I’m catching bulls***. She looooves this city. And she loves it for what it is, as well as for what it can be. That’s more rare, and more important, than you might think.
 “People always talk about Tacoma being gritty. But there’s a lot of beauty here. I have a full appreciation of what an honor it is to be mayor, and what an honor it is to do this work,” she says. “When I walk around Tacoma, I feel responsible for everything. Everything. If I see a cup on the ground, I have to pick it up. I feel that responsible.”
She’s not kidding. She’s laughing because she can see that I’m smirking at how serious she is. If everybody were that serious, nothing could stop this city. Nothing.
 “You think of politics as this thing where you’re constantly facing criticism,” she says. “But I have people come up and thank me and tell me they’re rooting for me.”
Strickland gets acknowledged by strangers because she remembers where she came from, and so do the people who live here. She grew up on Hilltop. She likes people — all kinds of people. She’s inclusive, and not in a perfunctory, junior-college-mission-statement kind of way. She means it, and she’s courageous about it.
“I want to know where the new leaders are,” she says. “And I want to know how we can broaden that pool.”
She means that, too. And she’ll make it happen, because she’s a shrewd, fearless, tooth-and-nail politician as well. Don’t let that smile fool you. Strickland’s not soft. She’s sharp. Scary sharp. And she knows the game.
But she knows the reality too. — Paul Schrag