In this morning's paper, Andrew Garber and I have a story about the viaduct. We focused on Gov. Christine Gregoire's attempts to broker a deal between House Speaker Frank Chopp and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.

One of the interesting things that emerges is the administration's unhappiness with how Chopp has operated over the past few months. He didn't say much in public, and not even a lot in some of the big meetings that have occurred, but he was relentless behind the scenes. As Department of Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald told Garber:

"Chopp has used the back channel to convey his position and the mayor has been on the front channel."

Gregoire Chief of Staff Tom Fitzsimmons told me a similar thing. Chopp talks about a new elevated freeway as a real attraction for Seattle. But MacDonald believes Chopp's priority is to stop the tunnel, not build a new roadway.

"My understanding has been that Frank has taken the position that he would see to it that there would not be funding for a tunnel. It doesn't have anything to do with the elevated. It has to do with the adamant Chopp position, which is clear, that there would not be funding for a tunnel."

A memo prepared for Chopp by his staff in the midst of the negotiations outlines what is described a the worst-case scenario:

› City/State propose tunnel option within $800 million of rebuild option.

› City agrees to cover all costs for tunnel above budgeted replacement amount.

› All Stakeholders like the proposal: It meets criteria of: 1) Cost; 2) Capacity; 3) Design; and 4) City financial responsibility.

› Advisory ballot includes "tunnel light" option, which is more likely to pass; state has no control over ballot language.

› Rep. Clibborn approves, Senate agrees.

› Legislature must pass limiting legislation, but can't due to dynamics above.

› Governor approves tunnel option after session ends.

That would be considered by many to be the best-case scenario. A cheaper tunnel, the city agreeing to cover overruns, and it meets capacity, design and financial requirements.

MacDonald and Fitzsimmons both said they were unhappy with the perception that the governor could not make up her mind or tried to find a compromise. They say she did the only thing she could in calling for a public vote. MacDonald said:

"What has been going on through this entire period behind the scenes is that while the perception seems to be that the governor has had a hard time making up her mind, the governor's dilemma is that she and all of the rest of us are caught between Scylla and Charybdis."

You know you have a problem when you have to reach into Greek mythology to describe the situation.

Chopp doesn't like the story line of Gregoire in some untenable middle ground between him and Nickels.

"It's not a question of being stuck between two elected officials. The issue is whether we can afford to build a very risky, very expensive tunnel. She's not stuck between anybody."

There's clearly pressure. And what makes it tougher for the politicians to deal with is it can't be explained away as a partisan, ideological or even regional battle. Positions are not easily defined by looking to political party or interest groups.

But I don't think there is likely to be heavy political or electoral fallout no matter what happens. I know the P-I had a headline last week saying, "Some believe issue imperils re-election in '08" for Gregoire. And at The Stranger, Josh Feit took quite a different view, saying "If the Elevated Wins, Chopp Loses."

Neither scenario is even remotely likely. I remember people saying that legislators who voted for a baseball park after voters turned it down were sure to be defeated. And Nickels' re-election certainly didn't seem hurt by his support for the monorail or Sound Transit. Yes, if whatever gets built turns into the Big Dig situation Chopp fears, voters could turn on someone. But that's a ways off, and doesn't have anything to do with the machinations we're watching today. A bungled process like this tells us something about the politicians involved. But I don't think it can singularly imperil Gregoire's re-election or threaten Chopp's hold on his House seat.