Inside the editorial page
Inside the editorial page

This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.

Editorial board bloggers

Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com

Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.

Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.

Guest bloggers

Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.

Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.

Karen Irwin of University Place, a mother of four, has been a frequent contributor to The News Tribune's print editions. She has also written for Seattle's Child, Puget Sound Parent, the Tacoma Weekly, the Fayetteville Observer Times and the political blog Right Meets Left. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in English literature and is currently working toward a history degree.

Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.

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What's on the minds of Tacoma News Tribune editorial writers
Saturday, November 8th, 2008
Posted by Cheryl Tucker @ 08:00:57 pm

This editorial will appear in Sunday's print edition.

Solution: Get the ballots in by election day

In most states, voters can get a pretty good idea of who won and who lost before bedtime on election night.

Too often, that’s not the case in Washington. When margins are close, and bushels of new ballots keep swamping elections workers for days after the polls close, it can take weeks to figure out how important races turned out.

Exhibit A was the interminable mystery that hung over the 2004 governors race, when Chris Gregoire and Dino Rossi were headed for a photo finish that could have been decided one way or the other by any given new batch of ballots.

Exhibit B was the 2000 senatorial race between Slade Gorton and Maria Cantwell, when it took the entire month of November to identify the winner.

=> Read more!

Categories: What's coming
Posted by Cheryl Tucker @ 05:01:45 am

A friend who works at the University of Puget Sound drew my attention to a video shot there on election day. It captures the spontaneous joy of UPS students when the networks declared that Barack Obama had won.

The students broke out into an impromptu rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner." The singing and video quality aren't great, but the sentiment certainly is.

Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC_CcdiXN5Y&feature=related

Categories: Election