We're still in the budget meeting, and I'm flipping through the 3 inch stack of papers they handed me.

Here's one thing I think is curious (of hundreds). In the highlights book, page 30:

"Expenditures for employee health benefits during the 2007-2009 fiscal biennium are anticipated to be lower than budgeted due to the removal of funding for a new information technology ...blahblah... and unexpectedly low health care costs in Calendar Year 2008."

It's Feb. 26, 2008. How are expectations for the next 10 months unexpected?

Don't e-mail me. I get it.

Joe and I just got to the Senate budget unveiling.

Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, opened with these remarks:

"There are a couple of words to remember: Supplemental budget. Hard times. No dough."

She said the budget offers mid-course corrections and unexpected emergencies.

Which category does the $150,000 WASL legislative workgroup I just spied in the budget highlights fit into?

I just spent some time on the Public Disclosure Commission's Web site. I recommend it!

Here's what I found: In the month of January, during which the Legislature was in session for a whopping 18 days (including weekends, 14 of those were actual workdays), the 900 or so lobbyists registered here made and spent $3,547,846.

A few caveats before I continue:
1. Some lobbyists still have not reported January expenses and earnings, despite the mid-Feb. due date. Clearly, they're busy!
Alternately, the three data enterers at the PDC have a few forms left to enter into the site. I'm sure you can understand.
2. Very few lobbyists seem to have already filed February numbers. Because I don't have three years of my life to devote to wading through the numbers (or, as legislators would call it, "scrubbing" the numbers), I present you with slightly imperfect data. I'm sure one of our readers can provide a dissertation on the margin of error involved herein. (Or is it therein? Where are my lawyers?)
3. Sometimes I hit the wrong key on the calculator. That's life.

With that in mind:

$3,370,516: Lobbyists' earnings and expenses during January.
$177,330: Additional amount spent on entertainment and contributions in Jan.
$3,547,846: Grand total of pay, expenses, entertainment and contributions.
$253,417.57: Amount made and spent per work day in January by lobbyists.
$12,666.43: Entertainment and contributions per workday in Jan.
$86.16: Average entertainment and contributions (read: meals) per workday per legislator. (That's including the amount lobbyists pay for their own meals.)
(Don't feel too bad: Legislators also get $100 per day for feeding and housing themselves during session.)
$18.00: Amount of money I have in my pocket right now.

This is fun!

Stay tuned: By Friday, I'll have how these "election-year-and-tight-budget-so-we're-not-going-to-do-much" figures compare to the previous two years.

Pierce County executive candidate Mike Lonergan says County Councilman Calvin Goings is using the announcement of a public hearing on ethics reform as a chance to build name recognition for the county executive’s race.

“The mailing prominently displays the name and color pictures of Goings and another County Councilmember, not once but twice – on both sides of the meeting notice,” Lonergan said in a press release. “Once an official is a declared candidate for a county-wide office, should the taxpayer bear the cost of name-familiarity mailings outside the district the official represents? I don’t believe so.”

Lonergan, a Tacoma City Council member, is running for county executive as an independent. Goings is running as a Democrat.

Goings said Councilman Tim Farrell are pushing for revisions in the county ethics code. Goings said they followed all county rules regarding the mailing. And he dismissed Lonergan’s assertion that it’s an attempt to build name recognition for the executive’s race.

“It must be the start of the silly season,” Goings said. “I hope Mr. Lonergan will attend our meeting.”

Read on for Lonergan’s full statement:

=> Read more!

Tacoma City Councilwoman Julie Anderson has requested time during tomorrow's noon study session to talk about the planned park at the head of the Foss Waterway.

I've got a call into Anderson to get some details about what she wants to discuss.

But it's no mystery why the park property is the subject of a public meeting: the Children's Museum of Tacoma wants to build its new home there.

The idea has touched off a controversy. Rowers, preservationists and some Dome District property owners are crying foul, pointing out that the Foss Waterway Development Authority bought the land with Pierce County Conservation Future funds, and it was supposed to be used for "passive recreation" only.

The Foss board has looked into the possibility of swapping the property for open space elsewhere in an attempt to satisfy the restriction, but it's not clear if that would work. In a memo to the City Council, Tacoma City Manager Eric Anderson said the idea is a new one that lacks precedent. The Foss board has asked for a legal opinion from the county before making a final recommendation, Anderson said.

An open house regarding the park is scheduled for March 10 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Phoenix Room at Freighthouse Square. A public hearing will be held at 5 p.m. March 19 at the Fabulich Business Center (Port of Tacoma Commission meeting room.)

The Tacoma City Council study session begins at noon Tuesday in Room 16 of the Tacoma Municipal Building North, 733 Market Street.

Last week, we heard from the good folks at the Washington Poll -- a nonpartisan, academic survey of 300 registered voters in the state -- that Gov. Chris Gregoire is likely ahead of Dino Rossi.

This week, they've struck again: Their newest findings say that 52 percent of people want primaries. That's primaries only. About 30 percent want both caucuses and primaries in the state.

Their second question goes: "This year in the state of Washington, the Democratic Party will select all of its presidential delegates based ONLY on the results of the Feb. 9th caucuses? Do you think we should continue to hold a presidential primary election or not?"

About 65 percent of people said they still wanted the primaries. Thirty percent were in favor of canceling the primary. The numbers did vary between Republicans, Democrats and Independent voters, but not as much as I expected.

Like last week's survey results, this has a margin of error of 5.6 percent.

Ralph Nader announced today on NBC's Meet the Press that he'll run for president.

Hillary Clinton responded by saying it was a "passing fancy."

If this fancy is passing, it appears to be doing so very slowly: He ran a write-in campaign in 1992, was the Green party nominee in 1996, was Al Gore's alleged foil in 2000 and got limited (and sometimes spiteful) attention in his 2004 bid.

The AP reports that she told reporters: "Obviously, it's not helpful to whomever our Democratic nominee is. But it's a free country."

Do kids still say that?

Mike Huckabee, for his part, was delighted.

While editing Les Blumenthal's upcoming story on federal highway spending, I was struck by a comment from a White House budget official.

The story, scheduled for publication Sunday, says state and local governments are worried because the federal Highway Trust Fund is expected to run out of money next year.

"There are challenges," said Christin Baker, a spokeswoman for the federal Office of Management and Budget, which writes the president's annual budget proposal. "We can't spend what we don't have."

Doesn't that seem like an odd comment considering the $9 trillion deficit?

We've heard from a few readers who think the Legislature is about to impose a fee on vehicle owners based on the size of their cars' engine.

It's true that such a proposal was filed. Senate Bill 6900 is sponsored by state Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Bellevue. The fiscal analysis estimates the fee would generate $283 million in revenue in the first year.

But legislative leaders say the proposal is the "deadest of the dead bills."

Rich Roesler has a good piece about the proposal's online immortality on his Eye on Olympia blog.

Legislators are clearly hearing about it. Today, Senate Transportation Committee Chairwoman Mary Margaret Haugen sent out a press release that all but says "Stop calling me about this!"

=> Read more!

It took awhile for this to arrive, but here it is:

=> Read more!

The independent, non-partisan Washington Poll came out today. Sponsored by the University of Washington political science department, the poll was conducted over the telephone with 300 registered voters this month.

The poll shows Washington voters prefer current Gov. Chris Gregoire to Republican Dino Rossi, 53.7 percent to 42.1 percent. That's certainly big, and the state Democratic party celebrated by sending out a press release celebrating the governor's 11-point lead.

Here's the fine print: The survey's margin of error is +/- 5.6 percent. That means any number could be off by as much as 5.6 percent in either direction.

And that means that Gregoire's lead could be anywhere from nearly zero to more than 20 points.

So, how do we know what this all means? Dr. Matt Barretto, one of the principal investigators, told Peter Callaghan that the difference is statistically significant.

In other words, it's big enough that it's probably not zero.

Here's more of what he said.

MoE (margin of error) is driven by the sample size and the closeness of the results... the thing to emphasize is that a panel survey is more reliable to show change because it interviews the exact same people, as opposed to a brand new random sample. if survey at point A interviews 400 random people and 47% support Smith, and then survey at point B interviews a new and different random sample of 400 people and 52% support Smith, it is hard to know if public opinion has shifted, or if the new sample might be somewhat different? in a panel survey, when we observe "change" it is more reliable because it is at the individual level, not the aggregate level. does that help?

I think I can speak for all of us when I say: Yes.

Update: Clearly I never took statistics (nor did I take the WASL). For a more detailed explanation of margin of error, check here. Don't say I never did anything for you.

OK. I guess I haven't read a news release from the Washington Education Association in awhile. They put their membership numbers at the bottom of every release. So WEA spokesman Rich Wood sent me an e-mail, telling me just how large the WEA has grown. It's not 78,000 as I reported in today's B-1 story.

He mainly wanted to give me a heads up that House Democrats probably will restore the planned cuts to all-day kindergarten expansion. (I think the WEA knew before House Speaker Frank Chopp did. Imagine that!)

Joseph,

We have 81,000 members. I know, it's hard to keep track. We added faculty at Western, Central, Eastern and TESC. (Someone should write a story about the unionization of four-year faculty. Evergreen has a Tacoma branch, you know. They are bargaining their first contract.)

Rich also corrected me on how the all-day kindergarten is being phased in, that is, going from half days to full days. I said it was 10 percent of the schools each school year, over a 10-year period. Rich said WEA has a different understanding of which schools get all-day first:

PS: It's a wonkish thing, but all-day kindergarten is phased in a little differently than you describe: it's actually based on percentage of students in poverty. So it covers schools with 90 percent free and reduced lunch the first year, 80 percent the second, and so on. It doesn't necessarily equal 10 percent of the overall kindergarten population each year. That's what Randy Parr tells me. It doesn't really matter, though.

The state Republican party has told me innumerable (at least four) times that they may have had record-breaking crowds at this year's caucuses.

What's your previous record? (I ask.)

"We don't really know."

Then how do you know it's a record?

"There were people lined up outside the doors."

Oh yeah. Which doors?

You get the point: Twelve days and we still haven't gotten a count.

We've gotten a count from Democrats, who say they had 250,000 people show. A certain Republican suggested to me that the other party was "gilding the lilly," but frankly, I'd rather have a gilded lilly than none at all (ladies and gentlemen, take note).

At any rate, they've left me nothing but my powers of deduction.

I know, for example, that I was at the Republican caucuses in Puyallup, and there were this many people:

So I can deduce that more than the 100 or so people in this photo caucused.

Deryl McCarty, chairman of the Pierce County Republican party, told me there were about 2,200 Republicans across the county who caucused. So there's that.

Luke, I'll be scratching my head until you call.

Randy Boss, who has an abiding interest in anything having to do with the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, sent me an e-mail. I've included part of it because I've been contacted by other readers who have been ticketed by the Tacoma police for driving in the car-pool only onramp when they shouldn't.

DOT told last summer they would take another look at whether the High Occupancy Vehicle restriction was needed any more. But it truly is a City of Tacoma ordinance.

From Boss:

The West End Neighborhood Council last night unanimously approved a recommendation by DOT to remove the HOV restriction on the Jackson Street on-ramp to SR 16. Because the restriction was placed on the on-ramp by City of Tacoma Resolution it will now take a City of Tacoma Resolution to remove the restriction. That process will take about 6 week so sometime mid-march the on-ramp will be open to all vehicles without restriction.

Once I made the request to DOT to remove the on-ramp restrictions they had to review and evaluate the impact. Finding that there would be adverse impact by removing the restriction they then had to gain City of Tacoma approval. The City would not agree to remove the restriction without first having a public meeting in the affected community and that's what occurred last night.

Another small victory......

Rep. Dennis Flannigan, D-Tacoma, and Tacoma lobbyist Randy Lewis probably deserve the credit for this item in the supplemental transportation budget:

The state would increase its contribution toward the bridge rehabilitation (or demolition) to almost $40 million. That's up from $26.5 million in the last budget.

However, the bill that Tacoma wanted, the one that would let them keep part of the state sales tax collected in Tacoma. That puppy is dead.

Our columnist, Peter Callaghan, ran into Lewis down here and got the basics and I followed up with a few questions at the Speaker's media availability.

House Speaker Frank Chopp said almost all of the bills that called for the state to give a slice of its 6.5 percent sales tax to various localities -- Federal Way, Auburn, Tukwila and Richland -- are not gonna happen.

The Murray Morgan Bridge bill falls into that category.

Another bill, to defer or waive the state sales tax on construction of a new headquarters building for Russell Investments in Tacoma, is still alive, Chopp said.

The difference there is that the state sales tax waiver would be a one-time thing, not an ongoing drain on the state's tax collections, Chopp said.

Of course, all this still has to be sorted out with the Senate and the governor's office.

UPDATE: Got an e-mail from Flannigan. "We're half way there," Flannigan said.

The House Democrats' budget includes a lot of money for low-income housing, a favorite of House Speaker Frank Chopp's. Part of the $90 million is coming from the convention center in Seattle. And they ain't happy about it.

Chopp, at his weekly meeting with reporters at the Capitol, repeated how he thinks using some of the convention center money for low-income housing is entirely proper. He said he helped with the expansion of the center, which displaced low-income housing. This is only fair play, he said.

Read the news release from the convention center:

CONVENTION CENTER FUNDING THREATENED

As it Begins its 20th Anniversary Year and Plans a Much-Needed Expansion,
State Convention Center’s Marketability May Be Severely Impacted

OLYMPIA, WA. – A drastic re-allocation of funds by committees of the Washington State House of Representatives this week may force the Washington State Convention & Trade Center (WSCTC) to cut or significantly scale back many regional tourism programs and potentially defer bond holder payments.

The proposal being considered by the Washington State House of Representatives budget committees calls for a $55 million re-allocation of funds from the convention center’s capital account and an additional $5 million from the convention center’s operating fund. This combined total of $60 million would be taken from the convention center and allocated to low income housing projects throughout the state.

=> Read more!

House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, told reporters a few minutes ago that he expects to see most of the $16 million that was cut from all-day kindergarten restored by the time the Legislature passes a final budget.

I wrote about the House's proposed budget in today's paper.

In brief, House Democrats unveiled a budget that spends $35.6 million more than they have to by giving public school employees an extra 1 percent pay raise. That's above the cost of living adjustment they are entitled to.

But the House cuts $16 million that was going to be used to bring day-long kindergarten to 10 percent of Washington's public school in the 2008-09 school year.
It's already at 10 percent of schools. The budget was going to boost all-day kindergarten to 20 percent of schools.

Chopp said he isn't sure exactly how much money will be restored, but most of it will.

At the same time, House Democrats are committed to gradually making up for the two years that teachers got ZERO pay raises because the Legislature suspended Initiative 732 for the 2003-05 biennium. I-732, passed by voters, guaranteed pay raises to school employees (and some community college workers) based on inflation.

Teachers should have gotten 2.6 percent raises over those two years. If this latest 1 percent extra gets signed into law, that will bring the "make-up" total to 1.5 percent. (Teachers got an extra 1/2 percent in 2006.) That leaves 1.1 percent more makeup pay raises to go.

Chopp said eventually teachers will get the rest, "as we can afford it." Automatic pay raises is what the people want because they passed I-732 and teachers still are underpaid, he said.

"People wanted teachers to have those raises," he said.

Just for the record, teachers in many school districts, including Tacoma, never got a 0 raise in those years. They didn't get any state funding for raises, but Tacoma and other districts uses their own local levy money to give raises to school workers in those two years.

What Chopp did not indicate -- and I didn't ask -- was what will get cut from the budget to restore the kindergarten funding.

Pierce County Councilman Calvin Goings has scored the endorsement of a local Realtors group in his campaign to become county executive.

Tacoma-Pierce County Association of Realtors President Virgil Wells said Goings “understands what it will take to keep Pierce County’s economy strong and growing in a difficult global environment.” In a news release, the association also cited his public policy experience and his “positive vision for a more prosperous Pierce County.”

Goings, a Puyallup Democrat, won the endorsement over three other executive candidates: Councilman Shawn Bunney, R-Lake Tapps; County Auditor Pat McCarthy, a Democrat; and independent Tacoma City Councilman Mike Lonergan.

Read the Realtor’s announcement below.

=> Read more!

I found part of the news release curious:

"The Sound Transit Board of Directors is responding to the public’s support for voting on a transit-only measure by taking a renewed look at what transit service expansions would make the biggest and quickest improvements for commuters for the least cost."

It was only three and a half months ago that the $18 billion ballot measure got the stuffing kicked out of it. I know Sound Transit paid good money to have consultants tell the agency why the measure got trounced so badly. There were a lot of reasons, but the one that Sound Transit wanted to hear most was how the agency should never have been forced to team up with a roads package to get onto the ballot.

The Legislature is doing its part to clear the way for Sound Transit. The Senate has passed a bill that would force the roads advocates to sit on the sidelines for at least a year. Are lawmakers trying to set the stage for Sound Transit to put another multibillion proposition on the ballot this fall?

I don't know.

I do know that Prop. 1 failed because it was so big. Even Sound Transit's consultants said that. It was so big because $11 billion of the $18 billion was Sound Transit's share.

Moreover, Seattle and King County both had a hand in undermining Prop. 1, according to John Stanton, the wireless company executive who is now trying to persuade locals stop being parochial and get behind a regional transportation czar.

The year before the Proposition 1 vote, King County Metro Transit took actions to start raising $2 billion and Seattle to raise $800 million, "and probably contributed to the failure of Proposition 1 at the ballot," Stanton said.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is the new chairman of Sound Transit, so it's not surprising that he is so eager to go back to voters with another request. From the outset, the light-rail system has been designed to keep Seattle the employment center of the Puget Sound universe. It's the only mode of transportation that can move downtown Seattle's work force into the city fast enough.

Gov. Chris Gregoire said after the Prop. 1's defeat, she thought maybe voters wanted to actually observe Sound Transit operating a light-rail line for awhile before agreeing to spend another $11 billion to expand it. And the first segment of light rail between downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport won't be up and running until December 2009.

Nickels apparently isn't paying attention to the governor. But then, he didn't pay any attention to Gregoire when she said the Alaskan Way Viaduct had to be replaced with another elevated structure, either.

Here's the official news release:

Sound Transit seeks public sound-off about options for expanding transit
Sound Transit today asked Puget Sound residents to shape the future of mass transit in this region.

Postcards will start arriving in people’s mailboxes across the region today inviting ideas and views on improving transit through an online survey. The survey will help Sound Transit decide how best to tackle increasingly poor commuting conditions with the right expansions of regional light rail, commuter rail and express bus service and infrastructure.

=> Read more!

Today's election update: Barack Obama is still ahead.

With 552,836 Democratic votes counted, Obama has 278,101 votes to Hillary Clinton's 257,722. That's 50.30 percent to 46.62.

As for the Republican race, I wouldn't call it a race. John McCain has about half of the 408,873 votes, but the next closest candidate (Mike Huckabee) has 22 percent.

Votes continue to come in, so stay tuned.

"This is preposterous," said state Sen. Bob Morton, R-Kettle Falls. "Holy smokes!"

Morton was just getting warmed up for the best floor speech of the 2008 session, at least the best I've heard so far. He was arguing futilely against passage of the so-called "Climate Change" bill being put forth by Democrats and environmentalists.

Here's his award-winning statement:

"You city slickers are going to come and tell my farmers and ranchers and tell them how big a tractor they can have to till the land to provide food for all of us?"

The Democrat-dominated Senate passed Senate Bill 6580 on a 31-18 vote.

A proposal to force Pierce County to adopt all-mail voting apparently died in the Legislature Tuesday. But the debate within Pierce County remains alive.

The debate pits the County Council against Auditor Pat McCarthy. The auditor wants to close the poll. She says implementing instant-runoff voting with both poll and mail voting could lead to voter confusion and error.

The council has rejected her plans. And it weighed in again Tuesday, approving a resolution that urged the Legislature to kill the bill that would have closed Pierce County polls.

McCarthy countered in a letter to council members Tuesday. She questioned some of the facts in the council’s resolution. And she suggested the council has violated open meetings requirements by reaching a decision on the issue without public notice or input.

Read the full text of McCarthy’s letter below.

=> Read more!

Wynn Cannon, chairman of the League of Washington Taxpayers, dropped by our Olympia news bureau on his way to the Washington Secretary of State's office.

He said he's filing an initiative petition. He wants to lower property taxes by 25 percent, starting in 2009. I'd give you more details, but Wynn said he has only one copy and wants to give it to state election officials so they can pass it on to the Code Reviser. (That's where initiative language is put in proper legal form.)

You can contact Cannon at 15127 N. E. 24th St., Suite 380, Redmond, Wa. 98052 or at 425-746-2983.

Cannon is a footnote in Washington initiative history. In 1998, Cannon and Tim Eyman were both circulating initiative petitions to lower the state's motor vehicle excise tax. Each of them failed. Why? They weren't working on the same initiative. They were competitors.

I was never able to verify just how many signatures each of them got on their separate petitions, but I believe they would have qualified for the ballot if they'd been working together and combined them.

In 1999, Eyman persuaded a key supporter of Cannon to come over to Eyman's side and that's how Initiative 695 qualified for the ballot. Voters approved it that fall. A King County judge threw out I-695 in early 2000, but then-Gov. Gary Locke and the Legislature enacted the provisions of 695 anyway. Collectively, car and truck owners got an $800 million a year tax break, and state and local goverments lost $800 million a year.

The legend of Eyman was born.

The guy who joined Eyman's camp was Monte Benham. That's what enabled Eyman to have an active, motivated presence in Eastern Washington. Now, it's the Fagans.

Given national trends in recent weeks, it's not surprising that more Democrats are participating in the primary than Republicans, who've got their nominee.

With results still trickling in tonight, here's a look at turnout by party so far:

Statewide: 500,000 Democrats, 369,000 Republicans.

Pierce County: 58,800 Democrats, 43,500 Republicans.

The Democratic race between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton is so tight that some folks believe it'll come down to the 795 superdelegates nationwide.

Last week, a Georgia congressman switched his commitment from Clinton to Obama, citing the Illinois senator's overwhelming victory in his state. A second Georgia congressman was considering a switch as well.

So if Obama's lead in our (meaningless) primary holds up, thus giving him a sweep of the two Democratic events in the Evergreen State, will that influence uncommitted superdelegates here?

Not likely, says David McDonald, a Washington state superdelegate and member of the Democratic National Committee.

He tells Niki Sullivan: “My vote will be based on what I think will be best for the party and for winning the election in November, not my personal preference.”

At this point, he said, it’s too soon to say who will get his vote.

A few thousand more poll-site results have been released, resulting in minor changes on the GOP side.

REPUBLICANS
John McCain: 52%
Mike Huckabee: 23%
Mitt Romney: 16%
Ron Paul: 6%

DEMOCRATS
Hillary Clinton: 52%
Barack Obama: 45%

Here's a quick look at Pierce County's first round of results:

REPUBLICANS
John McCain: 52%
Mike Huckabee: 22%
Mitt Romney: 18%
Ron Paul: 6%

DEMOCRATS
Hillary Clinton: 52%
Barack Obama: 45%

Here's a link to the county's results page. Next round coming up.

Yes, it's early and not all counties have posted their vote counts. But John McCain is dominating the race so far in Washington, as seen here.

The win would give him some -- but not all -- of the 19 Republican delegates up for the taking in Washington today. It also affords his campaign some redemption in Washington after the almost-too-close-to-call caucuses 10 days ago.

Plus, it won't hurt his delegate count: He hasn't secured the nomination just yet, and has said he'll keep campaigning competitively until he does.

Stay tuned.

We're a few minutes away from getting results from Pierce County and the rest of the state for today's primaries.

Whatever happens, it'll be interesting. John McCain, who won the caucuses by the slimmest of margins, wants a decisive win to show that he's the real victor in this state. Mike Huckabee needs a win to keep even an appearance of viability. Barack Obama wants to extend his 9-game winning streak, even though there are no Democratic delegates at stake. And Hillary Clinton desperately needs to turn the tides ... even though there are no Democratic delegates at stake.

It should be noted that none of them, however, wanted these things enough to visit between the caucuses and the primaries, as Secretary of State Sam Reed predicted would happen.

So we'll wait, a little impatiently, to see what happens...

In Little Rock, Arkansas, Mike Huckabee said today he's staying in the GOP presidential race.

“It’s not about ego,” Huckabee told reporters at a Little Rock hotel. The former Arkansas governor said he still wanted to deliver his message about issues important to him, such as opposition to abortion and a revised U.S. tax policy.
“We’re going to keep marching on,” Huckabee said. He already has campaign appearances set in Ohio and Texas, which hold primaries March 4.

The AP and CNN are both declaring Barack Obama the winner in Wisconsin.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama won the Wisconsin primary Tuesday night, his ninth straight triumph over a fading Hillary Rodham Clinton in their epic struggle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Now that polls have closed in Wisconsin, The Associated Press is moving more detailed information about the mood of voters there.

SHIFTING WHITE VOTERS
In the Democratic primary, Sen. Barack Obama led Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton among Wisconsin’s mostly white voters, a sign that his campaign has eaten into Clinton’s support among groups that have supported her in earlier states. And Obama tied Clinton among women, even white women, Clinton’s core group. Obama increased his edge among young white voters and expanded it into middle-age voters, winning among white voters under 60 years old. Obama even tied Clinton among white voters without a college degree, a group Clinton usually wins.

=> Read more!

Based on exit polling, The Associated Press and CNN say John McCain will win the Republican primary in Wisconsin. Too soon to say what the margin of victory will be.

It's also too soon to declare a winner on the Democratic side, though CNN says exit polls show Barack Obama with a lead over Hillary Clinton.

More to come as actual votes are counted...

I just got off the phone with Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy. She started her day at some polls in Gig Harbor, then headed to East Pierce County.

McCarthy said turnout was low. "It was pretty disappointing," she said.

The Secretary of State's office has estimated a 47 percent voter turnout. Pierce County had estimated turnout would reach 43 percent.

As of Monday morning, about 34 percent of absentee ballots were in to the office. McCarthy said they could still reach 43 percent, between additional absentee ballots and poll voters.

"It's not as robust as I would have liked."

The number of angry voters has also been low, to McCarthy's delight. She said poll workers reported only the occasional voter upset over the prospect of declaring a party before voting.

McCarthy said they'll start tallying ballots right after 8 p.m. and should have results starting around 8:30 or 8:45.

Update: The Secretary of State's office tells me that voting at the polls has been down across the state, but not vote by mail. It'll be interesting to see how many people end up voting, considering that Democrats have sent a pretty strong message that the primaries don't count, and John McCain is all but assured the GOP nomination.

...it would take a lot longer than they wanted.

I'm not going to give you a link to Senate Bill 6573 right now because it hasn't been updated to reflect all the changes that have been made. One of those changes was made on the floor of the Senate just before the final vote.

The original bill would have put $50 million into a special fund every year if state revenues grew by more than 1 percent. Half the money would have gone to improve pension benefits police officers, deputies, firefighters who were hired in 1978 or later. The other half would have gone to cities and counties to divvy up and spend on public safety stuff.

The version of the bill that just passed on a 49-0 vote, ramps up the money over almost a decade -- and they end up with only half as much.

=> Read more!

I just got word from the Secretary of State's office: So far, they've had 40 percent turnout.

Sam Reed has said he expects 47 percent turnout. With mailed ballots still coming in, they still think they'll hit that mark.

There are, of course, no results yet. Stay tuned.

Polls in Wisconsin close at 6 p.m. PST. In the meantime, here are some highlights from preliminary results of exit polling there.

=> Read more!

The Democratic "beauty contest" in the Evergreen State today isn't on the national radar. The Republican contest, with 19 delegates up for grabs, is barely a blip.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton squared off in a scrappy Wisconsin primary and in laid-back Hawaii caucuses Tuesday, their struggle for the Democratic presidential nomination veering toward the negative.
Wisconsin offered 74 national convention delegates, and an early test of support in industrial states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania.
There were 20 delegates at stake in Hawaii, where neither Clinton nor Obama campaigned in person...
...Republican front-runner John McCain hoped to inch closer to wrapping up the GOP nomination in primaries in Wisconsin and Washington, with 56 delegates at stake. The Arizona senator had 908 delegates, and his closest remaining rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, had 245. Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 14.

The Peninsula Daily News reports that the bill to require local governments to record their executive sessions is dying.

That's one of the great things about blogs. I first saw this on Rich Roesler's blog in the Spokesman Review.

Here's the bill report for House Bill 3292.

But we're still not sure when the toll actually will be collected. The state Department of Transportation keeps saying "spring" is when the HOT lanes will open and solo drivers will be able to buy their way into the carpool lanes on Highway 167 between Renton and Auburn.

I'm told the Legislature will give its approval to the toll in the Supplemental Transportation Budget for 2007-09. That will be passed by March 13.
The state Department of Transportation says "spring" opening means sometime in April, May or June.

OLYMPIA – The Washington State Transportation Commission today adopted a minimum and maximum toll range for the State Route 167 high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes pilot project.

Immediately following a public hearing on the proposed range, the Commission adopted an amendment to the Washington administrative code (WAC) that describes the variable toll rate and vehicles exempt from paying tolls. Exempt vehicles include transit buses, two-plus carpools, vanpools and motorcycles.

=> Read more!

More specifically, the special election dates in March and April would go away, but the elections in February and May would stay. That's prime school levy election time.

I wrote about this bill last year, when it didn't have a prayer.

But circumstances change. This year, Senate Bill 5271 was approved by the Senate today on a 46-1 vote.

It was sponsored by Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, on behalf of Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey.

Kimsey's main concern was how there wasn't enough time between those election dates to wrap one up before you start on another one. He says it'll save money, too.

What's different this year? Voters changed the constitution to allow simple majorities of voters to pass school levies instead of the former 60 percent supermajority. In 2007, everyone was so focused on the constitutional amendment that everything else fell by the wayside.

The bill now goes to the House.

TNT reporter Ian Demsky recently wrote a story about the conflict that a Catholic priest was experiencing in his job as a chaplain in the state prison system.

Ian says a bill aimed at addressing that issue cleared a hurdle when it passed the Senate by a 47-1 vote on Monday. Senate Bill 6400, sponsored by Republican Sen. Mike Carrell of Lakewood, would increase “moral guidance” programs at state prisons and aim to protect the rights of state chaplains following a new rule that allows inmates to select multiple religions.

Carrell added provisions to protect chaplains after hearing that Tom Suss, the longtime chaplain at McNeil Island and a Catholic priest, had taken a voluntary leave of absence rather than be put in a position of having to provide religious items to an inmate who claimed both Catholicism and a pagan religion simultaneously. Doing so would have gone against the tenets of his faith, Suss said.

“A prisoner’s right to freedom of religion, in my opinion, does not trump the right to religious freedom of prison chaplains,” Carrell said in a statement Monday.

The bill now goes to the House.

I just got off the phone with Nick Handy, the No. 2 guy in Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed's office, because I had some questions about the new cost numbers for today's Presidential Primary election.

I write about the state budget, so I was wondering why Reed asked the Legislature for $9.68 million to pay for this election, yet he's now telling my colleagues the cost will be about $6 million.

So, I asked Handy, how much the election is going to cost?

"I have no idea," he said.

Here's why: The Presidential primary election cost about $6 million the last time we actually had one. That was in 2000. The one that had been slated for 2004 was cancelled by the Legislature in December 2003 because lawmakers said it was a waste of money.

Handy said state election officials saw costs go up over the past 8 years, so they figured they would need $9.1 million to reiumburse all 39 counties for the cost of running the election. That assumed the presidential primary would be the only issue on the ballot, and the state would have to bear the full cost of the election.

The state also would be on the hook for the full cost of a presidential primary voters' guide. That was supposed to cost about $500,000.

Turns out, 36 of 39 counties also had other measures on the ballot, mostly school levies. School levies now need only 50 percent, plus 1 vote, in favor to pass, thanks to the change to the constitution voters made in November. Apparently, schools were eager to go to the ballot with money requests because it's easier to win approval. The old threshold used to be 60 percent in favor.

Anyway, those school districts will pay a share of the overall election costs.

Says Handy, the total election cost will be about $9.6 billion, but we still don't know how much of that will be borne by schools. And that will take 2-3 months to find out for sure.

On a 47-0 vote, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 6358.

Sen. Debbie Regala, D-Tacoma, prime sponsor, said the bill grew out of a case at a King County day-care center.

In 2006, the Legislature passed a law that said if an assailant has a special relationship with a child-victim -- such as teacher, coach or church elder -- and the prosecutor can persuade the court to rule on that special allegation, the offender can be sentenced to a 25-year minimum sentence.

SB 6358 would add day-care workers to the list of sex offenders who could get 25-year minimum sentences if they groom a child for molestation.

The bill now goes to the House.

OLYMPIA – The legislative delegation from the 26th District will hold a town hall Saturday. The district includes parts of Pierce and Kitsap Counties, including Port Orchard, Gig Harbor, Key Peninsula, parts of Bremerton.

Sen. Derek Kilmer, Reps. Pat Lantz and Larry Seaquist will use some of the time to talk about what’s happening in Olympia this session, and then take comments and questions from those attending.

26th Community Town Hall – Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008

Port Orchard American Legion Post 30 (615 Kendall St.) from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

For more information

Sen. Derek Kilmer, (360) 786-7650

Rep. Pat Lantz, (360) 786-7964

Rep. Larry Seaquist, (360) 786-7802

The Tacoma City Council meets with the Joint Municipal Action Committee today at noon to talk about the 111 acres that now consists of Cheney Stadium, Foss High School, Metro Parks headquarters and Heidelberg Park.

The generally sleepy JMAC has been talking about something pretty interesting lately: Hiring an urban planner to take a look at the property.

Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg thinks it could become a recreation-themed mixed-use center, with apartments, condos and shopping built around the baseball stadium.

Our editorial board likes the big-thinking, but editorial writer Kim Bradford noted on the Inside the Editorial Page blog that other cities that have tried this have their ball parks in the downtown.

So what do you think? Would this work in the current location? Or does Tacoma need a new stadium in the Dome District, or maybe on the Tideflats? Or the Brewery District?

Audio from the session will be broadcast live on TV Tacoma and on www.tvtacoma.com. On-demand archives are available on the Web within 24 hours, also at www.tvtacoma.com.

For Marilyn Rasmussen, D-Eatonville, they will be Wednesday from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Roy City Hall, 216 McNaught St. S.

Then on Saturday, Rasmussen goes on the road:
--9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at Orting High School Commons, 320 Washington Ave. N.
--11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Graham Library, 9202 224th St. E.
--1 to 2:30 p.m. at Eatonville Library, 205 Center St. W.
--3 to 4:30 p.m. Yelm Timberland Library, 212 Prairie Park St.

For Skip Priest, R-Federal Way, there will be two on Saturday:
--10 a.m. to noon at Federal Way Community Center, 876 S. 333rd St. S.
--1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Algona City Hall, 402 Warde St.

This e-mail came in last night from Republican Michael Young. He's leaving his job as head of the King County chapter of the GOP to become Western Washington coordinator for presidential candidate John McCain.

Here's Young's news release:

=> Read more!

Who doesn't want to pass anti-gang Legislation?

Nope, not a rhetorical question: A bill that would create sweeping reform (that you can conveniently read about in tomorrow's paper) passed the House almost unanimously tonight.

The lone no vote, out of 95? Rep. Jim Dunn, R-Vancouver.

Why?

"I have no idea ... he just does that sometimes," is how an unnamed source put it.

That's the kind of quote I'll gladly do time for.

Update: Another unnamed source sent another winning quote. "Some of us around here have a saying when asked the vote, 'oh it's just 97 to Dunn.'"

I'm working on a story on deadline but found this too funny not to pass along: The Senate is debating a bill that would prevent pharmaceutical companies from getting detailed information on what your doctor is prescribing.

Someone -- and I don't know who because the TV is behind me -- said that "sexy" female pharmaceutical reps visit doctor's offices, peddling targeted sales pitches to unsuspecting doctors, driving up costs in the process.

A minute or so later, Sen. Cheryl "Going-to-Mars" Pflug rose to say she worked in the medical field and she objected to the characterization of pharma reps. Aside from being offensive, she said the notion that they're all sexy was "baloney."

I don't know any pharma reps, so I can't serve as the deciding vote. I guess it depends on your type.

The House just passed a bill that could –– if it passes the Senate and is signed by the governor -- could prevent two additional military vessels from being semi-permanently parked on Ruston Way.

Rep. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, said HB 3230 would change requirements for public notifications and hearing requirements for shoreline management act permits.

It sounds innocuous: If you want to issue a shoreline management permit, you'd just need to notify the public and hold a hearing. It is and it's not -- Darneille said that, since the controversial plan to add two more ships to the Ruston Way lineup hasn't gone through yet -- it could require the city to hold an additional public hearing on the issue. And, since Coy's permit for the existing two ships is under review, it could even conceivably affect whether it would be renewed.

The bill is a victory for the Chinese Reconciliation Park and residents of the Stadium District, who said the two additional ships would pollute the area and block their view.

Stay tuned.

If Oregon State gives a special alumna award when one of its grads does well in Washington, what would they do for her if she'd gotten the top job at the Oregon Department of Transportation?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 18, 2008
OLYMPIA - Employees of the Washington State Department of Transportation congratulate Secretary of Transportation Paula Hammond on being selected by the Oregon State University's College of Engineering for membership in the university's Academy of Distinguished Engineers.

Hammond received the "Oregon Stater Award," which recognizes outstanding alumni for their career contributions to the engineering profession and to OSU.

=> Read more!

Democrats are calling the shots in the Legislature, thanks to their 63-35 majority in the Washington House of Representatives and their 32-17 majority in the state Senate.

So, it's the Democrats' budget that matters. The House goes first this year. House Democrats are planning to unveil their revised 2007-09 budget for capital, operating and transportation budgets on Wednesday.

The budgets probably will be unveiled over the long lunch hour (noon to 1:30 p.m.), according to Melinda McCrady, communications director for House Democrats.

House Hearing Room A in the O'Brien Building will be the setting for all three.

Bring your cameras. It may be the last time we see Helen Sommers of Seattle and Bill Fromhold of Vancouver. Get used to seeing more of Hans Dunshee of Snohomish and Timm Ormsby of Spokane. We'll probably have Judy Clibborn of Mercer Island at the helm of transportation for some time to come.

I just wanted to call your attention to this article, which appeared in today's New York Times, about Washington's system of electing delegates to the national conventions.

That's all. Now you can go about your day, knowing that everyone in the country knows.

In related news, the Senate is debating a bill to banish the electoral college right now. More precisely, SB 5628 adopts "the interstate agreement for the election of the president of the United States by national popular vote."

We ran Associated Press reporter Curt Woodward's roundup of what the Washington Senate did on Saturday. Here's a link to his story.

One of those bills was Senate Bill 5363, which would expand the use of automated cameras to enforce traffic laws.

The city of Lakewood was the guinea pig for the use of camera cops in Washington. At first cameras were limited to catching people running stop lights or crossing railroad tracks when the barrier arm is in the blocking position. Then they were expanded to include speeding in school zones. Then they were expanded from a few pilot cities to broader cities.

The latest measure lets the City of Seattle (cities with a population of 500,000 or more) use camera cops on arterial streets to catch speeders.

To listen to state Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, you'd think Washington was well on its way to becoming Detroit City of the RoboCop movies. And Benton sounded like the member of a police officers' union, the way he was talking about those cameras taking jobs from cops and saving cities the pension contributions.

Here's the roll call vote. It passed 27-21, mostly Democrats in favor; mostly Republicans against.

Voting Yea: Senators Berkey, Brown, Delvin, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Hargrove, Haugen, Jacobsen, Kilmer, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Marr, McAuliffe, McDermott, Morton, Murray, Prentice, Pridemore, Rasmussen, Regala, Rockefeller, Shin, Spanel, Swecker, Tom, and Weinstein
Voting Nay: Senators Benton, Brandland, Carrell, Hatfield, Hewitt, Hobbs, Holmquist, Honeyford, Kastama, Kauffman, Keiser, King, McCaslin, Oemig, Parlette, Pflug, Roach, Schoesler, Sheldon, Stevens, and Zarelli

Here's the other side of the argument from Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle:

=> Read more!

Fresh from my e-mail box is this news release from Republican Mark Hargrove, who is running against state Rep. Geoff Simpson, D-Covington, in the 47th Legislative District.

That's in southeast King County.

Here is the news release from Hargrove's camp:

It’s Time for a Change in the 47th District

Kent, WA – At last Saturday’s Republican caucus, twenty-year Covington resident Mark Hargrove announced to a crowd of 700 that he will be seeking the 47th Legislative District House of Representatives seat currently held by Democrat Geoff Simpson.

Hargrove, 51, is a Boeing instructor pilot and graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. He has been married to his wife, Sandy, for 28 years, and has two daughters, one married with an 8 month-old daughter and the other engaged.

=> Read more!

Senate Bill 6297 was passed on Saturday by the Senate on a unanimous vote.

I bring your attention to it because it illustrates the complexities of how the state and its 39 counties work out pay arrangements. For instance, each of them pays half the salaries for Superior Court judges and county prosecutors. There are 182 such judges and 39 prosecutors - one for each county.

Anyway, prosecutors for small counties don't make much. In Garfield County, the salary is $52,000 a year. The state pays $26,000 and the county pays $26,000

SB 6297 basically says the state's half of a prosecutors salary will be based on the salary of a Superior Court judge. On Sept. 1, those judges will be paid $148,831, with the state and county each paying $74,415.

If SB 6297 becomes law, the state would pay $74,415 for its half, and the counties would continue to pay what they already have been paying for their half. That is, if Garfield County wants to pay only $26,000 for its half, it could. But the state half would be $74,415, so the minimum pay for a prosecutor would be more than $100,000 a year, regardless of how large or small the county is.

Tom McBride, executive secretary of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, said small counties often have trouble finding people to run for prosecutor because it pays so little. And when they do find someone, they stay only one 4-year term and then go back to private practice so they can make more money, McBride said.

Here's the argument McBride used to convince the Senate to raise its half of the payment: "The duties you put on the criminal prosecution side are pretty much the same in every county."

So, the state should pay the same amount for its half in every county, regardless of size, he said.

Incidentally, the salary for prosecutors in Pierce, Clarks, Snohomisih, Yakima and Kitsap counties are the same as Superior Court judges. That's just shy of $141,000 today. It goes up on Sept. 1, 2008.

Only in King County does its prosecutor earn more than judges. It's about $155,000 a year.

McBride said most of the small counties are in the same boat as Garfield. Prosecutor salaries are low in Ferry, Island, Columbia, Whakiakum, Kittitas, Klickitat and Stevens counties, too, he said.

The salary isssue isn't a done deal. It now must be approved by the House.

House Bill 2996, which was passed last Friday by the House, would require antifreeze manufactured after 2010 to contain an "aversive" agent. That is, it would have to taste bad to deter pets from licking it up what can be a lethal substance.

Apparently, deratonium bensoate, the aversive agent, tastes bitter, and makes the otherwise sweet antifreeze unpalatable to animals and children.

The requirement to add bitters doesn't apply to auto dealerships that are selling cars that already have antifreeze in them.

The House vote was 93-1. Don't ask me why Rep. Jim Dunn, R-Vanouver, cast the lone dissenting vote. It was one of those late-night measures and I missed the floor debate.

The bill is now in the Washington Senate.

That would be Howard Lincoln, whose appointment to the board of trustees at Western Washington Universitiy was just confirmed by the Senate 46-0.

State Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, chairwoman of the Senate budget committee, told her colleagues that Lincoln was unable to attend his confirmation hearing because he's at spring training in Arizona.

Lincoln actually was appointed more than two years ago to a term that ends Sep. 30, 2010. Don't ask me why the Senate is just now getting around to confirming his appointment. But the way it works down here, the governor appoints people to boards and commissions and her cabinet and the appointee serves until or unless the Senate rejects them. They don't really have to be confirmed.

The Senate confirms dozens and dozens of appointments basically as a way to kill time while things are going on behind the scenes.

Put this in the category of "things you learn while you're waiting for something else to happen."

I'm interviewing Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup, on Saturday and we're both sitting at the press table. I'm trying to figure out what the Legislature is going to do on the transportation front.

A bit on the logistics: The press table is at the very front of the Senate chambers. It's kinda like being at the bottom of a hill and you're looking up at an incline into the faces of all 49 senators. Also looking out at the senators are Lt. Gov. Brad Owen (he's up on a rostrum) and the Sergeant at Arms.

Turns out Sgt. At Arms Jim Ruble and Kastama have a history.

"He was my football coach," Kastama says in the middle of our interview.

Ruble, 64, taught for 30 years in the Puyallup School District before retiring and that included a stint at Kalles Junior High School. Ruble taught Washington State history and government, and for the past eight years he's been working for the Legislature. He's in his fourth year as Senate Sgt. at Arms.

In 1975, Ruble also was one of the Kalles football (and track) coaches and Kastama played center and defensive end as a 14-year-old.

Now, Kastama has a hand in creating some Washington state history and Ruble is still teaching him a thing or two about government.

This week's Pierce County Council agenda includes sending a clear message to the Legislature - leave our poll sites alone!

As Peter Callaghan wrote in his Feb. 7 column, state lawmakers are considering a bill to require all counties to go to all vote-by-mail. Since Pierce County is the only county that hasn't made the switch or begun the process, House Bill 2833 is really the let's-make-Pierce-County-get-in-line act.

From the County Council's weekly "Gavel to Gavel" newsletter:

The council on Tuesday (Feb. 19) will fast-track a resolution ((R2008-17) opposing a bill in the state House of Representatives that would force Pierce County to switch to mail-only voting.

To be heard by the Rules and Operations Committee at 10 a.m. and the full council at 3 p.m., the resolution urges rejection of House Bill 2833, which is sponsored by four representatives from outside Pierce County. The bill carries an emergency clause that requires Pierce County to abandon polling places beginning with the 2008 election.

King County – the only other county in the state that offers in-person voting – would have until 2009 to make the switch.

The state Senate stayed in session until about 1:40 p.m. and adjourned. Its members are coming back at 9:30 a.m. Monday, President's Day.

That's a holiday for everyone else, but not the Legislature. The House and Senate and their staff work, while the rest of state government is pretty much shut down.

House Bill 2836 would let judges extend protection orders to the pets of someone who is victim of domestic violence. It also makes harming or interferring with the pets a gross misdemeanor. The law also would apply to pets of children in the relationship.

The bill, which passed 94-0 on Friday, acknowledges that feuding couples sometime try to hurt each other indirectly by going after their pets. The bill now goes to the Senate.

The House won't be here today. Its members went until 1:30 a.m. today.

Gluttons for punishment, but at least they get a 2-day weekend.

Both chambers have a deadline of 5 p.m. Tuesday to pass bills that were introduced by their respective members, so they often work over part of the preceeding weekend.

I'll be blogging pretty regularly all day long today, mostly catching up with what the two chambers did late last night and early today.

For the Senate, it's transportation day.

One of them, I wrote about a couple weeks ago. That was Reps. Larry Seaquist and Pat Lantz, both Gig Harbor Democrats, piggybacking on a measure to plow sales tax back into big transportation projects that are being paid for with tolls.

That's what House Bill 3051 would do. The House passed it about 20 minutes ago on a 94-0 vote. One provision makes the sales tax break sorta retroactive. That is, there was about $59 million in sales tax on the Narrows Bridge. Payment was only delayed until 2012, when tollpayers would start making 10 annual installments on the sales tax.

HB 3051 flat-out forgives the $43 million that would have gone to the state. The other $16 million to Tacoma, Pierce County and Pierce Transit still has to be paid, between 2012 and 2022.

The other break was on House Bill 1773. The main break there was the provision that will let the Legislature put tolls on transportation projects that will last forever. That's right. Permanently. The Narrows Bridge was specifically exempted from that because the toll policy applies only to projects after July 1, 2008.

So, when the bridge is paid off in 2030. The toll on the Narrows will go away. But a word of caution: Be vigilant, Gig Harbor. You never know what a future Legislature might decide to do about those tolls.

Here's Seaquist's take on his bill:

=> Read more!

So it's Friday night, and I'm editing stories and listening to legislative debate in the background on TVW (I can HEAR some of you laughing at me...).

After the House passed a transportation bill (fyi, Joe's writing a story about it), I could still hear the echo of the voting machine's bell in the House chamber when a press release about the measure landed in my in-box.

Now THAT'S how you make a deadline. I'm rewarding that public relations stud by posting the release here:

=> Read more!

There's been an awful lot of attention on superdelegates – the automatic Democratic delegates who can vote for whoever they like at the Democratic National Convention. With such a tight race between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, some speculate it could come down to the superdelegates' votes.

With that in mind, Wired wrote about how crowdsourcing and wiki software have put a whole new level of scrutiny on superdelegates -- and how the campaigns are trying to sway them.

Check this out: Sourcewatch is tracking each of Washington's superdelegates and how they plan to vote.

Stay tuned.

Sen. Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood, sent out this release on Senate Bill 6548.

Carrell bill to restrict sex predator computer access passes Senate

OLYMPIA… Senate Bill 6548, which would restrict the computer access of violent sex predators housed in the state’s Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island, passed the Senate today, 49-1.

Between 2006 and 2007, at least four men housed at the SCC were caught with thousands of digital images of children in various pornographic acts. Sen. Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood, proposed SB 6548 in response to the startling revelation.

=> Read more!

In what was his final revenue forecast, ChangMook Sohn, the state's chief economist, said he expects a $423 million drop in state tax collections.

The means he now expects the state to finish the current 2007-09 budget with ONLY $954 million in the bank. That's instead of the $1.4 billion he predicted only three months ago.

Washington is not in a recession and Sohn doesn't expect the state to go into one. The nation is in or headed for recession, but Washington's economy merely will slow down from what had been a very robust pace in recent years.

The revised revenue forecast virtually guarantees the state won't have $1 billion in the bank, something Gov. Chris Gregoire and Democratic legislative leaders said, back in December and January, was their goal.

Sohn, rumored to be a possible candidate for state treasurer, was very succinct in announcing he's done with the job he's had since 1984.

"This will be my last forecast," he said. "No more statement."

This was Sohn's 94th quarterly forecast on what he thought state revenues would be.

There will be a longer version of this story in Saturday's paper.

Here is the House Republican reaction to the forecast:

=> Read more!

House Bill 2756 was approved by the House earlier today. It requires the state Department of Social and Health Services to keep a log for every call made sex offenders who are undergoing treatment at the Special Commitment Center.

Rep. Troy Kelley, D-University Place, (he's actually one block inside the Tacoma city limits), sponsored the bill after staff at the facility brought to his attention the fact that some residents were harassing staff at home

The Special Commitment Center isn't a prison. It can't be. It has to be a treatment center or it runs afoul of the federal courts. Otherwise, Washington would be accused of putting people in prison indefinitely.

As "patients" the residents at the center are afforded more freedoms than prison inmates. There are 272 sex offenders at the center because they are considered likely to reoffend if they are released.

The logs would note the time of calls, who placed the call, what number was called. But DSHS staff could not listen in on the calls. The log would help connect the dots if a commitment center resident were harassing someone.

Last year, the Legislature took a stab at paying for college classes for prison inmates, but ended up backing down because it just didn't look good.

But the Senate is taking another stab at it this year. Senate Bill 6790 was passed on unanimous vote. It now goes to the House.

The bill would create a pilot program for inmates at two prisons and two community colleges. Four groups of 20 inmates each would take community college classes toward getting a two-year associate degree. That's 40 inmates starting in March 2009 and 40 more in 2011.

The test is to see whether college classes really increase the liklihood that offenders will go straight. Overall, it would cost about $950,000 through 2013. That salaries for four college profs and $300 for books for each inmate for each three-month quarter in school.

Washington used to let inmates take college classes, but stopped in 1995 after the Legislature went through one of it's tough-on-inmates phases.

Senate Bill 6596 was just passed by the Senate on a 48-0 vote. The measure, which now goes to the House, would create a sex offender policy board to keep the Legislature updates on all things related to their treatment, release, oversight, etc.

The board would have 13 voting members: associations that represent law officers, prosecutors, defense lawyers, the state sentencing board, sex offender treatment professionals, the state prison, judges, social workers in the juvenile justice system, crime victims, cities, counties, sexual assault programs and the Special Commitment Center.

The SCC is where about 300 sex offenders are housed on McNeil Island because they have been civilly committed.

With the race for the GOP nomination basically settled, U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings is now endorsing John McCain.

From The AP:

Hastings, a Republican from Pasco, Wash., says McCain will protect America’s national security and tackle the federal budget by cutting spending rather than increasing taxes.
Hastings also says he appreciates McCain’s commitment to nuclear power and hydropower dams, especially those on the Snake River, as vital to the Northwest and the country’s energy future.
Rep. Dave Reichert of Auburn also has endorsed McCain, as have Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna and former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton.

Mainstream Republicans of Pierce County are meeting at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Elks Club at South 23rd Street and Union Avenue in Tacoma.

Here's the rest of the news release:

We invite you to come and meet Sam, ask him questions, hear about all the exciting new election laws that his office has promoted since he has become Washington State Secretary of State.
As many of you know Sam Reed has been a Mainstream Republican for many years and is a huge supporter of our Pierce County organization. We encourage you to come and visit with Sam and the rest of the group Saturday, February 16th.

Breakfast will be $10 (optional of course)

The meetings are in the evening, next Thursday (21st) and the following Tuesday (26th) and Thursday (28th).

Discussions will lead to a recommendation to the Washington Transportation Commission, which is still in charge of setting tolls on the new bridge. (Don't know if the Legislature is going to take over final approval.)

I doubt that there's any major change in the works. If anything, they'll talk about whether to extend the discounted toll for transponders, which is $1.75 instead of the $3 cash toll. That's supposed to expire on June 30. It could be extended at perhaps a different rate, $2 or $2.50. Just a guess.

I reported early that it doesn't appear the Legislature is going to approve any new excemptions from the tolls, nothing beyond emergency vehicles on true emergency runs.

Looks as if there's still a vacancy on the advisory group, only 8 members.

Here's the rest of the news release:

=> Read more!

From the AP:

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Brian Baird is endorsing Barack Obama.
Baird joins three other “superdelegates” who have endorse the Illinois senator: Gov. Chris Gregoire; U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, his state chairman; and Pat Notter, a member of the Democratic National Committee.
Eight other superdelegates remain uncommitted. Hillary Clinton has the support of five of the state’s superdelegates.
In announcing his endorsement Friday, Baird cites Obama’s “ability to move Americans past the issues that divide us and unite our country for change.

Update: Here's The AP's list of Washington state's Democratic superdelegates and their picks:

Barack Obama
Gov. Chris Gregoire, Reps. Adam Smith and Brian Baird, and Democratic National Committee member Pat Notter.

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, Reps. Norm Dicks and Jay Inslee, and King County Executive Ron Sims.

Uncommitted
Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz; Vice Chairwoman Eileen Macoll; DNC members Ed Cote, Sharon Mast and David McDonald; Reps. Rick Larsen and Jim McDermott; and former House Speaker Tom Foley

Got a false alarm a couple hours ago from TVW, about how the House might start debating House Bill 1773 this afternoon.

Not today, Speaker Frank Chopp said. The debate will be on Friday.

HB 1773 contains a provision that says tolls of the future might be enacted for new bridge or highway projects and they would remain in place forever.

The one exception: The new Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The bill says that "for ever after" provision would apply only to projects that are tolled after July 1, 2008.

Rep. Pat Lantz, D-Gig Harbor, said there has to be some compensation for being the only one of six toll projects that actually was built, over the objections of the Gig Harbor community.

"We're just not going to be your cash cow forever," Lantz said of the state Department of Transportation.

The tolls on the Narrows Bridge are scheduled to come off in 2030, when the $735 million project is paid off.

Reporters try to cover the news, not make the news. So we assume our former politics reporter, Kenneth P. Vogel (Kenny V to his friends), needs to do some serious groveling with his girlfriend after this item moved on the AP wire.

(NYT12) VIENNA, Ohio -- Feb. 14, 2008 -- CAMPAIGN-CLINTON -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) uses a reporter's mmobile phone to relay Valentine's Day greetings to his girlfriend on board her campaign jet in Vienna, Ohio, on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008. The presidential candidate also distributed chocolates to the press on board the plane. (Beatrice de Gea/The New York Times)

Political Play of the Day: Hillary Clinton shares Valentine's chocolates, makes a few calls

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) - It was Valentine's Day aboard Hillary Rodham Clinton's plane Thursday.

The New York senator made her way to the back of the cabin with a tray full of chocolates to share with her media entourage and got to help some reporters make amends with their significant others back home.

"I would love to be Fernando's second choice for Valentine's Day," she told CBS news producer Fernando Suarez's girlfriend, Michelle, by cell phone.

To Politico reporter Ken Vogel's girlfriend, Danielle, she cautioned that despite the call, "that doesn't excuse him from not sending you something."

=> Read more!

U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert was hoping for a seat on the influential House Appropriations Committee - you know, the folks who spend money.

He didn't get it. Republican leaders named Rep. Jo Bonner of Alabama to the panel. Bonner replaces Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican who was appointed to the Senate.

From the AP's story:

Reichert says he supports the decision and understands the rationale in replacing one lawmaker from the Gulf region with another. Reichert has visited the areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and says he knows how important recovery of the region is.

Reichert wanted the Appropriations seat in part to help with his tight re-election race against Democrat Darcy Burner.

Here's the press release issued by his office.

=> Read more!

House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, and his daughter went to the caucuses on Saturday, he told a group of reporters gathered for a weekly meetup.

Who did he caucus for?

He paused. He said it was tough, since he had close friends on both campaigns.

He finally said he and his daughter caucused for different candidates. After someone asked who his daughter caucused for, he finally broke down and revealed his choice:

Barack Obama.

He said Obama's commercial about a unified America brought a tear to his eye.

You've probably heard the horror stories from around the state: Thousands of ballots being tossed simply because someone forgot (or refused) to check The Box -- the one with The Oath that indicates which party you're declaring allegiance to.

Pierce County's 2.5 percent (so far) of unchecked ballots is apparently low compared to other areas in the state. Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy just told me that, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony today, auditors from other counties were asking her what her secret for success is.

=> Read more!

I wrote about this in an earlier blog post.

Ballots will be mailed out Feb. 29 to about 2,000 operators of adult family homes and the votes will be tallied on March 26, according to the Public Employment Relations Commission.

PERC oversees the election to see which group will represent the home operators, the Washington Federation of State Employees or the Residential Care Council.

I just checked with the state Office of Financial Management, (that's the governor's budget office) to find out how many people have signed up for the e-mail notification list called for in Initiative 960.

OFM spokesman Glenn Kuper says as of today there were 2,287 people on the list.

I signed up out of occupational necessity. In fact, I was No. 3 on the signup sheet, after the 2 OFM people who set up the notification list.

I wonder how many others are just routinely deleting all those e-mails. An e-mail goes out every time a bill to raise fees or taxes is introduced, every time that bill is scheduled for hearing, every time a bill is approved by a committee and every time a bill passes either the House or Senate.

That's a lot of e-mails. I doubt that even Tim Eyman reads them all.

Here's something you should probably know: If you participated in the caucuses, but changed your mind and want to vote for a candidate of the opposite party in the primary, there's a chance you could be committing some kind of crime.

But you'll probably never be prosecuted for changing your mind.

Why? You sign an oath to participate in the party-run caucuses and vote in the partisan primary. It says that you promise to not participate in another party's nominating process in this election cycle.

The oath doesn't contain a line that says it's OK to circumvent the law if you're indecisive. Or a spoiler.

So we put the question to some of the experts: Nick Handy in the Secretary of State's office and Jeff Even in the Attorney General's office. They said that, while it's technically breaking the law to switch-hit, it would be nearly impossible to catch someone for it.

Being lawyerly, they set out to find an instance in which it could be proven and prosecuted.

While standing in front of ten people, two of whom are bishops in the Catholic church, the voter announces "I am a card carrying member of the Democratic Party. I am not and never will be a member of the Republican Party but have decided to lie on my declaration and say I am a member of the Republican Party, which I absolutely am not, so I can vote for Mike Huckabee because my candidate Hillary Clinton will run better again Mike Huckabee."

Got that? One bishop, voter's delight. Two bishops, voters take warning.

And another thing: If you're in Pierce County and decide not to sign any oath at all (which about 2 percent of voters have done so far), Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy said her office will send a letter to you, asking whether you meant to enter a "protest vote" or if you simply overlooked the large red and blue box on the front of the envelope. If you sign an affidavit saying that you simply forgot, your vote will count.

Not all counties are doing that. If the 2 percent figure holds and 50 percent of the county's 283,000 absentee voters send in their ballots, that's (... a lot of math and) and a couple thousand letters.

Update: Someone suggested we make up punishments for getting caught for the semi-fictional crime of caucusing for one party and primary-ing for another.
Ideas? Post them here.

Peter wrote his annual love notes to beloved targets today.

After the editors' morning meeting in which we critique the paper and web site, John Henrikson, one of our local news editors, penned the following and sent it around the newsroom.

Morning Critique to Callaghan

Every year, you pen your love
to pol, and athlete and hack
And do you really wonder why
They never write you back?

Former state Sen. Jim Clements of Selah just won confirmation to the state Public Disclosure Commission. Clements served most of his time in the House of Representatives. He was elected in the Republican Revolution of 1994.

When Sen. Alex Deccio, R-Yakima, stepped down mid-term, Clements was appointed to fill the vacancy. However, he served only one year. He was defeated last year in a special electdion by now-Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima.

Clements often referred to himself as "just an old porch dog." Now, he's on the state's watch dog commission for election campaigns.

Just catching up with some of the stuff the House passed Wednesday night. House Bill 2567 would increase the fine for violating the state Open Public Meetings Act.

The current fine is $100. The bill would set a range between $250 and $1,000. Testimony on the bill noted the $100 fine has been in place since 1971. Inflation over the past 37 years alone would have pushed it up to $539.

This bill pitted newspapers against cities and counties. Newspapers said they wanted a deterrent to violations. Reps for city and county councils said their members make so little that $100 still is a deterrent.

The vote was 77-19. It now heads to the Senate. Here's the roll call:

Voting Yea: Representatives Alexander, Anderson, Appleton, Armstrong, Bailey, Barlow, Blake, Campbell, Chandler, Chase, Clibborn, Cody, Conway, Darneille, DeBolt, Dickerson, Dunshee, Eddy, Eickmeyer, Ericks, Flannigan, Fromhold, Goodman, Grant, Green, Haigh, Haler, Hankins, Hasegawa, Herrera, Hudgins, Hunt, Hurst, Jarrett, Kagi, Kelley, Kenney, Kessler, Lantz, Liias, Linville, Loomis, McCoy, McIntire, Miloscia, Moeller, Morrell, Morris, Nelson, Newhouse, O'Brien, Orcutt, Ormsby, Pedersen, Pettigrew, Priest, Quall, Roberts, Rolfes, Ross, Santos, Schual-Berke, Seaquist, Sells, Simpson, Skinner, Smith, Sommers, Springer, Sullivan, Takko, Upthegrove, Van De Wege, Wallace, Williams, Wood, and Mr. Speaker Chopp
Voting Nay: Representatives Ahern, Condotta, Crouse, Dunn, Ericksen, Hinkle, Kirby, Kretz, Kristiansen, McCune, McDonald, Pearson, Roach, Rodne, Schindler, Schmick, Sump, Walsh, and Warnick
Absent:
Excused: Representatives Hailey and Hunter

Republicans have found a candidate to challenge freshman state Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor.

Marlyn Jensen, 63, who describes herself as a longtime businesswoman, announced her candidacy in the 26th Legislative District.

Here is the full news release from Jensen:

=> Read more!

The Washington House of Representatives passed a measure that would phase out the occupation of "registered counselor" by mid-2010, and make about 18,000 counselors get more training or work under supervision if they want to stay in the field.

The vote in favor of House Bill 2674 was an overwhelming 89-8. The measure now goes to the state Senate.

This bill arose because our colleagues at a Seattle newspaper pointed out how easy it has been to become a counselor, a $40 annual fee and four hours of AIDS awareness classes.

In the future, counselors would have to seek licenses to work as social workers, mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists or drug and alcohol counselors.

The bill does create new licenses for associate counselors or trainees. But people in those categories would have to work under supervision and would have to get their own full-fledged credentials within four years.

I just got off the phone with two erudite employees from the Republican National Committee.

They quite strongly object to my comparison of (uncommitted delegates who do not originate in the caucus process) to (uncommitted delegates who do not originate in the caucus process).

What? Yeah.

=> Read more!

The House voted 97-0 today to increase the number of teachers who get bonuses for being nationally certified and are willing to take assignments in the state's poorest, and sometimes toughest, schools.

The certification is worth $5,000 a year. It's worth an additional $5,000 if the teacher is assigned to a school where 70 percent or more of the kids are eligible for free or reduced lunch program. Right now, that's 148 teachers.

The measure passed by the House, House Bill 2775, lowers the threshold for poor schools. If 60 percent of students in middle school are elgible for low-cost lunches and half of high school students meet that test, the teacher becomes eligible for bonus pay.

The bill would add 70 more teachers to the bonus list for the 2007-08 school year. In five years, there could be close to 1,400 teachers getting the bonus. The bill now goes to the Senate.

The Senate voted 29-20 in favor of the measure, Senate Bill 5278, and sent it to the House.

It was mainly a Democrat proposal, done at the behest of Seattle and so-called "good government" groups. Proponents claim without public funds to help pay for campaigns, only the wealthy and their friends can afford to run for office. Three rural Democrats, Sens. Jim Hargrove, Tim Sheldon and Brian Hatfield, joined all 17 Republicans voting against the measure.

Here's the roll call vote on final passage:

Voting Yea: Senators Berkey, Brown, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Haugen, Hobbs, Jacobsen, Kastama, Kauffman, Keiser, Kilmer, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Marr, McAuliffe, McDermott, Murray, Oemig, Prentice, Pridemore, Rasmussen, Regala, Rockefeller, Shin, Spanel, Tom, and Weinstein
Voting Nay: Senators Benton, Brandland, Carrell, Delvin, Hargrove, Hatfield, Hewitt, Holmquist, Honeyford, King, McCaslin, Morton, Parlette, Pflug, Roach, Schoesler, Sheldon, Stevens, Swecker, and Zarelli

We've written a lot about The Oath.

It's what you signed if you caucused this weekend. And it's what you'll put an X next to if you vote in the primary.

It says:

I declare that I consider myself to be a DEMOCRAT and I will not participate in the nomination process of any other political party for the 2008 Presidential election.

or

I declare that I am a member of the Republican Party and I have not participated and will not participate in the 2008 precinct caucus or convention system of any other party.

So what happens if someone is willing to depress their conscience for the chance to participate in one party's caucuses and another party's primary?

Or what happens if someone legitimately changed their mind in the 10 days between the two? Stranger things have happened.

=> Read more!

The State Democratic party says more than 250,000 people turned out for Saturday's caucuses -- more than double the previous record of 100,000.

They figure about 52 delegates will go to Obama and Hillary will get 26.

Update: Pierce County Democratic Chairman Nathe Lawver tells me 20,000 Democrats attended caucuses in Pierce County. In 2004, there were just 7,500.

From what I can tell, Pierce County Republicans had a turnout of 2,211. Of those, 637 signed in for McCain and 677 signed in for Huckabee. When delegates were elected, McCain got 204 and Huckabee got 199.

The Associated Press is reporting that McCain also won the Virginia primaries.

Republican front-runner John McCain survived an unexpectedly difficult challenge of his own in Virginia before triumphing over former Arkansas Gov., Mike Huckabee in a race that triggered a heavy turnout of evangelical Christian voters. McCain picked up all 60 of the GOP delegates at stake, adding to his insurmountable lead.

In Maryland, they've extended voting by 90 minutes because of icy roads.

We'll keep you posted.

The 97-0 vote in favor of House Bill 3103 was pretty much a no-brainer. It stemmed from the case of Harold Wright Jr., a Tacoma public school principal who kept collecting his salary because the Tacoma School District couldn't fire him after his conviction for rape.

The law at the time allowed for automatic firing only if the victims were minors. Wright's victim was 19.

Anyway, read the news releases put out by Reps. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, and Joyce McDonald, R-Puyallup. They highlight a common occurence in Olympia. The majority party gets credit for everything, and the best the minority can do is struggle for just a bit of attention.

Democrats outnumber Republicans 63-35 in the House. Darneille was prime sponsor of the bill. But McDonald's flacks tried to get their boss some of the credit she was due by pointing out, "McDonald pre-filed her legislation for introduction Dec. 13. Two similar bills were introduced later by Democrat lawmakers."

Credit matters, especially when you're running for office. Darneille is seeking reelection to her North Tacoma legislative seat. McDonald is going to a Pierce County Council seat.

Here is Darneille's news release, followed by McDonald's:

Rep. Darneille bill to protect students passes unanimously
February 12, 2008

OLYMPIA—The House today voted 97 - 0 to close a loophole in state education laws that prevents automatic dismissals of convicted rapists and other criminals unless their victims were children.

=> Read more!

I got a call from a reader named Bill this morning. He made sure to note that he's college educated.

And yet, he told me, he could not wrap his mind around the fact that he was reading election results in the paper, yet his ballot was sitting on his kitchen table.

Answer: He's reading caucus results (and subsequent fallout, but that's another story). The primary election is Feb. 19.

We'll be running stories in the paper starting tomorrow explaining the difference and what gives.

I gave Bill a free preview this morning, and he thanked me for clearing it up. He signed off by adding, "If it was up to me, I'd get rid of the caucuses and the electoral college and all that junk."

AP says Barack Obama won today's Virginia primary, his sixth win in a row over Hillary Clinton.

The Associated Press made its call based on surveys of voters as they left the polls.

The interviews with voters showed blacks accounted for nearly one-third of the ballots cast in Virginia, and Obama’s share approached 90 percent. He and Clinton split the white vote.

In all, there were 168 delegates at stake in the three Democratic primaries.

Republicans John McCain and Mike Huckabee struggled over 116 delegates in the GOP primaries in the so-called Potomac Primary contests.

In Virginia, nearly seven in 10 voters in the Republican primary called themselves conservatives, and Huckabee was gaining half their votes in a strong challenge to the party’s front-runner.

The surveys were conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and the television networks. There was no survey conducted in the District of Columbia.

Though he's eligible for a third term, Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer Ken Madsen told me today he probably won't seek re-election this year. But he left himself a little wiggle room.

"I don't plan to run," Madsen said. When asked if he might reconsider, he added: "It's probably assured that I'm not going to run."

If that sounds less than definitive, he's not the only one having a tough time making up his mind. County Councilwoman Barbara Gelman said late last year that she'd decide after the holidays whether to seek the assessor-treasurer's office. But she hasn't been returning my phone calls, and folks who have spoken with her are still wondering whether she'll run.

That leaves former state Rep. Jan Shabro as the only announced candidate. Shabro is a Republican and Madsen and Gelman are both Democrats, though voters in November decided the office should be nonpartisan.

Rep. Dawn Morrell, D-Puyallup, said police in her legislative district came to her with a request for a law after a rash of thefts of car parts. Not just any car parts. The catalytic converter that's supposed to cut down pollution by more thoroughly burning gasoline.

Morrell said in her floor speech that thieves apparently disdain crawling under a car to steal the converter. Rather, they tip the car over and remove it from the undercarriage. It costs as much as $1,200 to replace the part.

Here's the bill report on House Bill 2858. It adds catalytic converters to the list of metals that scrap metal dealers have to keep track of -- in addition to all the copper wire and aluminum that sometimes are stolen from public roadways to pay for a meth habit.

I just got off the phone with former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton. I've been making some calls, trying to find some high-ranking Republicans to comment on the caucus situation.

And Slade certainly didn't disappoint.

He called it a "tempest in a teapot."

=> Read more!

The Washington Transportation Commission is holding a hearing at 9 a.m. next Tuesday (Feb. 19) in Olympia to formalize the toll that will be charged to solo motorists who want to buy their way into the carpool lanes on Highway 167 in South King County.

Thanks to Tim Eyman and Initiative 960, the Legislature will have to approve the amount of the HOT lane toll, too. Word is, there won't be a separate bill to do that but there may be language in the revised 2007-09 State Transportation Budget that gives lawmakers' blessing to the toll.

The commission is looking at a toll of 50 cents to a high of $9 when traffic is at its worst. The toll would get you into the carpool lanes between Auburn and Renton.

Here's the first of dozens of town hall meeting notices I expect to get over the next week. Sen. Jim Kastama and Rep. Dawn Morrell are combining because they're both Puyallup Democrats.

Not sure what Rep. Joyce McDonald is going to do yet. She's the lone Republican in the 25th District delegation. And she's running for Pierce County Council instead of re-election this fall.

The Dems Feb. 23 meeting will be on Day 41 of a 60-day session.

Here's their official news release:

=> Read more!

Former state Rep. Jan Shabro has made it official: she's running for Pierce County assessor-treasurer. Below is the press release announcing her candidacy.

=> Read more!

As I write this, the Federation of State Employees is holding a rally on the steps of the Capitol with the next group of workers the union wants to represent.

On Thursday, there will be a conference call among the Public Employment Relations Commission, the Federation and the Washington State Residential Care Council to schedule a runoff election. The federation and council are vying to represent operators of about 2,000 to 2,100 operators of adult family homes in contract negotiations with the governor's office. PERC is the referee.

The union, which forced a representation vote by turning in more than 1,000 signatures of operators, got trounced in the vote last September. While 214 people voted for the federation, 594 voted for the council, an association which has represented the homes for the past dozen-plus years. The runoff election will eliminate the "no representation" option, which came in 3rd.

"We don't expect that to happen again," said Greg Devereux, head to the 40,000-strong federation. He was at the rally and I caught him on a cell phone.

Gov. Chris Gregoire's proposed budget has a bigger pay raise for adult family homes. It would raise reimbursement rates by 4.8 percent instead of 2 percent in the 2008-09 budget year.

Adult family homes are the lower-cost alternative to nursing homes. The state pays operators $48 to $92 a day to take care of Medicaid patients with dementia, developmental disabilities, blindness and other physical disabilities. Nursing homes get about $150 a day or more.

Here's the news release on the rally:

=> Read more!

It's the Potomac Primary today. I was skimming the political wire and found this story saying that Barack Obama is expected to win today.

Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) — Barack Obama is poised to chalk up three more wins over Hillary Clinton today in Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. that would give him a clear delegate lead in the Democratic nomination race.

Obama packed arenas in Baltimore and College Park, Maryland, yesterday while Clinton pursued voters in smaller settings. Polls in all three jurisdictions show Obama the favorite to win a majority of the 168 delegates at stake.

“You’re looking at a groundswell,” said Keith Haller, president of Potomac Inc., a Bethesda, Maryland-based political consulting company not affiliated with any campaign. The Illinois senator will win the capital overwhelmingly, and in Virginia and Maryland, the “yield for Obama is likely to be more significant than just splitting the delegates.”

I also found an Associated Press story noting that Hillary Clinton may lose 10 in a row before the next big date on the presidential campaign calendar.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is counting on the almost-Super Tuesday primaries March 4 for another comeback, as she and rival Sen. Barack Obama both begin ads in Texas and Ohio, the day’s biggest prizes.

Barring an upset win for Clinton in the next five Democratic contests, she could well have suffered 10 straight defeats by the time Democrats begin voting March 4 in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont — the biggest single day left on the Democratic nominating calendar.

As promised, I just got off the phone with Jim Pinkerton. If you ever plan on calling him, I hope you can type fast.

"We're looking at our legal options. Bear in mind this is only Tuesday. What we're pointing to is that, first and foremost, what happened on Saturday was not a legal thing -- it was a political thing," Pinkerton said.

He called it a "political ripoff" and said Esser "announced results before results existed."

=> Read more!

The Washington Senate just voted 32-15 in favor of letting beer- and wine-tasting in a few dozen stores to give shoppers of preview of what they might later want to buy.

Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, wasn't too keen on the idea. He voted against Senate Bill 5751 because he predicted some shoppers would get too drunk to drive.

"We will have examples of someone who ends up over the .08 limit," Hargrove said during the debate. He did suggest parking lot sobriety checkpoints, but I'm pretty sure he was being humorous. The checkpoint bill is dead this session.

Sens. Jeannie Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle and Republican Minority Leader Mike Hewitt of R-Walla Walla, spoke in favor of the bill. Hewitt said his legislative district produces one-fourth of all the Washington wines in the state and some bottles can run $35 to $55 a bottle. A small sample would be helpful to the wine-making industry, he said.

Here's the roll call vote:

Yeas: 32 Nays: 15 Absent: 0 Excused: 2

Voting Yea: Senators Berkey, Brandland, Brown, Carrell, Delvin, Eide, Franklin, Hatfield, Hewitt, Hobbs, Holmquist, Honeyford, Jacobsen, Keiser, Kilmer, King, Kline, Kohl-Welles, McAuliffe, McDermott, Murray, Oemig, Pflug, Prentice, Pridemore, Regala, Rockefeller, Schoesler, Stevens, Tom, Weinstein, and Zarelli
Voting Nay: Senators Benton, Fraser, Hargrove, Haugen, Kastama, Kauffman, Marr, McCaslin, Morton, Parlette, Rasmussen, Roach, Shin, Spanel, and Swecker
Absent:
Excused: Senators Fairley and Sheldon

I asked Jim Pinkerton, Mike Huckabee's senior adviser, where the campaign will go from here. State party chairman Luke Esser told reporters last night that 96 percent of the precinct caucuses are accounted for, and McCain's lead has increased to just over 2 percent.

In other words, the "McCain victory" proclamation will stand.

As we reported yesterday, Huckabee's campaign sent a lawyer to speak with the state Republican party yesterday. (As a side note, party spokesman Patrick Bell was sure to tell me that the lawyer was young. Very young, he said, like ... maybe even in her 20s. I'm sure it wasn't intended as commentary on her ability.)

Anyhow, I specifically want to know whether the campaign plans to pursue legal action under the federal Voting Rights Act, as has been rumored, and how they'd go about doing it, since caucuses are a party activity -- not a federal- or state-administered "vote."

Pinkerton told me: "We are considering all our options."

I'm waiting for Pinkerton to return my call so I can get more info.

I was on a conference call last night with Luke Esser, chairman of the Washington State Republican Party. When I say "last night" I mean "at 9:45 last night" and "in the middle of a dinner party."

The message: With 96 percent of the vote counted, McCain's lead has increased slightly. And none of this is their fault.

Esser said a couple of things factored in to the newly released results. One of them was that one county (Snohomish? I can't recall) was apportioning delegates to candidates based on the percentage of votes they received.

That's how Democrats do it, not Republicans.

=> Read more!

If you're not familiar with Robert "The Traveller" Hill, let me give you a brief introduction:

Mr. Hill frequently attends city council meetings to inform our elected officials of such holidays as National (manually stimulate yourself) Day. I believe Hill said that was a women's-only holiday. He even had a poster to help illustrate his cause.

Mr. Hill also runs for seemingly every office available.

But something Mr. Hill did a week ago left him running from the law.

=> Read more!

I hear from Mike Huckabee's campaign that his lawyers met with leaders from the state Republican party today. They've also phoned the national party to register their displeasure with state chairman Luke Esser projecting a winner on Saturday night -- when just 87 percent of the votes were counted.

I'm waiting for a call from the state party.

In the meantime: With the state's primaries - when 19 delegates are at stake - around the corner (Feb. 19), do you think Huckabee's efforts to force a recount will help, hurt or not affect that race?

This isn't really related to politics, but longtime King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng had a remarkable career. When I saw this news release, I was reminded of the time I interviewed Maleng when he was running for the Republican nomination for governor.

I particularly remember how he talked about the death of his daughter, and how it affected Norm and his wife.

The Harborview Medical Center board of trustees requested one of their buildings be named for Maleng.

Here's the news release from the King County Council:

=> Read more!

The Washington Senate today started cranking up for the mid-session rush of passing bills by sending the House a measure sponsored by retired police officer and now Sen. Jerome Delvin, R-Richland.

=> Read more!

Sen. Mike Carrell's bill got a hearing today in the Senate Transportation Committee, but its prospects don't sound good, based on the line of questioning from his colleagues.

Senate Bill 6402 would require drivers convicted of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or if they got a deferred prosecution, to install a neon yellow license plate on their vehicle.

Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle, was worried about branding the wrong person with the letter.

"What if it was a one-car household?" Jacobsen asked Carrell during the hearing. If another member of the family drove the car, "The mark of Cain would go on them, too?"

"Yes," Carrell said.

"Even though they didn't do anything wrong," Jacobsen said.

Committee chairwoman Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, noted that would put a burden on the family.

Chances on, Carrell's bill won't even come up for a vote in committee.

In the story about the Hilltop caucuses, Joseph Montes interviewed a man who was filming the whole affair so that he could post it on YouTube.

This morning, he found the video. Enjoy:

I talked to Patrick Bell at the state Republican party today. As we talked, phones were ringing pretty much nonstop in the background.

Bell told me the following:

"We didn't stop counting on Saturday, there was nothing left to do for the night," he said. Apparently some (especially Huckabee fans) were irked that the party stopped counting at 87 percent and declared McCain a victor. He stressed that they stopped counting because they didn't have anything left to count.

=> Read more!

Here are results for just the 27th District Democrats, courtesy of Nathe Lawver, county Democratic chairman.

Attendees: 5,381
Delegates: 662
Alternates: 345

Delegates went to:
Obama: 432
Clinton: 216
Undecided: 13
Kucinich: 1

Other attendance estimates:
28th Legislative district: 1,200
2nd Legislative district: 1,000

There were more attendees to the caucuses in those three districts - the 27th, 28th and 2nd - than attendees across the county in 2004.

I'll spend today looking further into the Huckabee caucus hubbub. Caucuses, by all accounts, are chaotic -- so I'd like to hear any questions or problems you encountered.

I heard from Pierce County GOP Chairman Deryl McCarty last night (curiously, I heard from Pierce County Democratic Chairman Nathe Lawver within the hour of hearing from McCarty... I doubt the correct conclusion is that they're on the same wavelength).

First, here's the county-wide numbers of who Republicans indicated as their preference (excluding three precincts) when they signed in. Again, these are not-quite final numbers:

Huckabee: 662
McCain: 613
Romney: 342
Paul: 330
Uncommitted: 189
Other: 9 (7 for Fred, 1 for Hunter, 1 for Tully, to which McCarty adds "I have no clue)

Total sign ins (minus those three precincts): 2145

=> Read more!

Bruce Dammeier, a candidate for the state House seat being vacated by Rep. Joyce McDonald, will be the keynote speaker at a meeting of the 25th District Republican Club.

The meeting will be Feb. 13 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the North Room of the Puyallup Public Library. (This is a departure from the club's usual meeting on the third Tuesday of the month because the library's room was booked.)

For more information, contact Robert Neilson at 253-845-0038.

What was it like to attend a presidential caucus on Saturday? TNT photographer Joe Barrentine went to the Puyallup Elks Lodge, which was large enough to host a Democratic caucus and a Republican caucus. He set up time-lapse cameras in both, recorded audio and produced this really cool slide show.

The state Republican party just posted updated numbers, and here's what it looks like:

87.2 percent of precincts are reporting.

McCain: 25.5 percent
Huckabee: 23.7 percent
Paul: 20.6 percent
Romney: 16.5 percent
Uncommitted: 12.7 percent
Other: 1.1 percent

So ... did McCain win? The Associated Press thinks so, and they've called it a victory in their election story.

But we can't be sure, because 12.8 percent of precincts haven't reported. And because the state party is posting very general numbers, there's no way for us to know which districts aren't counted and what that may mean.

Here's how state party chairman Luke Esser put it:
"Based on analysis, that's how it appears." (That being a McCain win.) "We didn't want to say it's a certainty, but we should have something near final numbers in the next couple of days.

When I asked whether they'd be counting tomorrow, Esser replied: "Call us tomorrow afternoon."

Will do.

Deryl McCarty just gave me a call to report Pierce County numbers.

With all but one districts reporting in the county, 1,946 people showed.

"That's way more than normal by triple, which means there's a lot of interest."

Here's how the sign-in sheets went down:
McCain: 564
Huckabee: 609
Romney: 303
Paul: 303
Uncommitted: 167

Now here's how that translates into delegates:
McCain: 189
Huckabee: 186
Romney: 143
Paul: 142
Uncommitted: 51

Update: I initially wrote "all but one precincts reporting." But, as Deryl pointed out, it's all but one district. What's the difference? A district is made up of many precincts.

Republicans have posted 83.1 percent of precincts and guess what the results are:

McCain 25.6 percent
Huckabee: 23.8 percent
Paul: 21 percent
Romney: 16.3 percent
Other: 1 percent
Uncommitted: 12.2 percent

You might be wondering: How is it possible, for example, to advance delegates for a candidate who has suspended his campaign (Romney)? Or how do you advance a delegate for "Other" and "Uncommitted"? Or, simply, why is it that McCain is dominating nationally, yet didn't post a decisive win in Washington's caucuses?

All very good questions.

=> Read more!

In the latest batch of returns, John McCain has reclaimed a narrow lead.

With 78 percent of precincts reporting, McCain has 25.4 percent and Huckabee has 23.8 percent.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul has 21 percent and Mitt Romney 16 percent. Interestingly, 12.5 percent is "uncommitted."

More returns are expected in about 45 minutes.

A second batch of numbers have trickled out of state GOP headquarters and Mike Huckabee has taken a small lead over John McCain.

With just 37 percent of the total reported, Huckabee has 26.4 percent and McCain has 22.9 percent. Ron Paul remains a close third with 20.3 percent and Mitt Romney has 18 percent.

Washington state Democrats have numbers now from every county and every legislative district and Barack Obama has won them all but one.

I first reported that he'd won everything but a reader noticed that she won 53 of the delegates selected in Douglas County. Obama won 32 there.

.

Overall, the Illinois senator has 21,629 delegates (67.51 percent) elected to attend legislative district and county conventions in April. New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has won 9,992 (31.2 percent) delegates.

John McCain's superstitiousness is well-known. But it pays off in his mind: He told a group of reporters on the bus yesterday that he's the luckiest man on earth.

He may not be so lucky today. With 37 percent of precincts reporting, Mike Huckabee has 26 percent of the votes to McCain's 22 percent.

McCain also told us that he only recalls winning one caucus state. I think it was Louisiana.

Why? Because caucuses require a lot of organization, and organization doesn't come cheap.

I don't know what's going on in Garfield County but it appears to be Obama Country. Unanimously.

According to results reported by the state Democratic party, Obama is beating Clinton 100 percent to 0 percent in the small southeastern Washington county.

As a result, he has one delegate and Clinton has zero.

The first batch of numbers have been reported by the state Republican party and while Sen. John McCain and former Gov. Mike Huckabee are virtually tied, Ron Paul is just a bit behind.

With just 16 percent of the caucus numbers reported by the party, McCain has 26.6 percent of the total and Huckabee has 25.9 percent. Paul is third with 21.2 percent.

Mitt Romney, who suspended his campaign this week, still has 16.7 percent.

This is Lauren:

She's 19 years old, and chairwoman of the 25th District Democratics. To her knowledge, that makes her the youngest Democrat in the state to hold a chairperson position. In the last three years, she's also managed a handful of campaigns.

Adler was at the Puyallup Elks Lodge today, where the 25th District Democrats (and Republicans) were caucusing. She told me she wants to inspire young people.

"Politics isn't a spectator sport and it's not an 'old people's' sport," she said.

She went to the Barack Obama rally in Seattle yesterday and was "blown away" by how young the audience was.

She said she'd promised her district that she'd party-build and help caucus until she lost her voice, and around 2 p.m. she was well on her way.

State Democrats are reporting more numbers from their caucuses Saturday and it is difficult to find a place where Hillary Clinton is doing well.

In Pierce County, Barack Obama is holding delegate leads ranging from 60-39 up to 67-32 (the remainder are uncommitted delegates.)

In Seattle, Obama has totals ranging from 71 percent to almost 78 percent.

In Spokane, Obama is getting at least 60 percent of the delegates.

Clinton is closest, but still not leading, in Adams County, Franklin County, Grays Harbor County, Pacific County and Yakima County.

Below is a video of today’s caucuses at Mason Middle School in Tacoma:

This photo of people registering comes from precinct 166. Its part of a reader photo gallery the TNT has setup and we are looking for more submissions. If you took some pictures at today's caucuses or at any of the presidential nominee visits, submit them to us. We might even print one of yours in the paper.

With each submission include your name, age, the city you live in, the event the picture is from and a little commentary. The legal stuff: The newspaper has full and unlimited publication rights.

We’ve been hearing stories of higher turnout all over the state today. I just got off the phone with Bill Harrington, part of the Obama campaign. He’s in the Second Legislative District in southeast Pierce County.

He said today’s turnout was about five times larger than four years ago.

More than 1,200 people caucused in 60 precincts. They elected 800 delegates and alternates to the next level – 95 percent of the maximum.

Four years ago, they had 260 show up.

“This is big,” he said. “This is huge. So many people are excited.”

Returns are coming in.

With 27 percent of precincts reporting, Barack Obama leads Hillary Rodham Clinton 66 percent to 33 percent.

Uncommitted/Other make up the other 1+ percent.

From the AP's statewide caucus story:

In one Chehalis precinct, three Clinton supporters and three Obama supporters all refused to yield, forcing a coin-flip to decide which candidate got the precinct’s lone delegate.

Kay Braden of Chehalis, a fervent Clinton supporter, called heads for Hillary, but it came up tails for Obama, who was a big winner at the site.

“It’s heartbreaking. I still think she’s the best candidate,” Braden said as she put her head down on the table.

Ain't democracy great?

About 300 packed the Republican caucus at Purdy Elementary School, some using songs, speeches and the memory of Ronald Reagan to make the case for their candidate.

Dennis Falk of Fox Island brought and read a four-page statement in support of Ron Paul among a group divided between John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Paul. Falk was the last to speak and talked about Paul’s opposition to income taxes and his desire to abolish the Federal Reserve, among other issues.

The table remained divided, despite Falk’s speech.

“If you can’t save the country having fun, it’s not worth saving,” Falk, 67, said, after it was all over.

At the same table, 81-year-old Hal Barker recited the third stanza of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and said McCain is the most honest of the candidates.

“He recognizes that if we don’t tie up the terrorists in the Middle East, we’ll have to tie them up in New York, New Jersey and Seattle.”

Across the room, Nick Uraga was done voting but he was still talking about the candidate he’d really like to see.

“Ronald Reagan is my hero. I want a conservative,” Uraga, 60, said.

“Ronald Regan’s dead,” another at the table shot back.

“He lives in my heart still,” Uraga said.

As the other precincts were clearing out around 2:45, one from the Key Peninsula was going strong in the faculty lounge.

=> Read more!

We've had a few people post comments on the blog about the experience they had at their caucus, so I thought we'd dedicate an area just for that.

If you have photos, e-mail them to us. If you have a story about how many people were there, who they voted for or what it was like, share it in the comments.

The four reporters who went to caucuses are now back in the newsroom, writing up our stories and waiting for results. While we're tied up with that, let us know how it went.

Apparently, some Democrats lost their way in Gig Harbor. Ten minutes before the kickoff of the GOP caucus at Purdy Elementary School, MC Jim Hines grabbed the mic and informed the crowd that a dozen or so Democrats had mistaken the school for the site of their caucus.

“Just to make it official, this is the Republican caucus. If there are Democrats here, there is an event for you down the road,” he said, as the crowd settled into cafeteria tables and munched on cookies.

He told the Democrats to head to Peninsula High School.

“I don’t want to have our big enforcers escort you out,” he said to a roomful of laughter.

So many folks filled the cafeteria by 1:30, at least 75 stood against walls and into the hallway.

Another 200 or so were seated at the kid-sized tables.

=> Read more!

I spoke with Kelly Steele at the State Democratic Party who said, based on anecdotal evidence, turnout for this year's caucuses could smash the 2004 record.

That year, roughly 100,000 Democrats turned out for caucuses. Last week, State Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz told me he wouldn't be all that surprised if 200,000 people turned out this year.

We won't have any numbers for a while, but I'll let you know as soon as we do.

This is just anecdotal evidence and should be treated as such: At Mason Middle School in Tacoma, it’s clear there’s a big gender gap between Hillary and Obama voters.

If I had to guess, I’d say about 75-80 percent of Clinton supporters are women. And that number escalates for those who will be delegates for her at the next level.

I talked with Scott Miller yesterday after the Barack Obama speech. Here’s what he had to say in my story today:

Tacoma’s Scott Miller has been on the Obama bandwagon since the senator announced his candidacy last year.

“I’ve always admired him, liked him, was drawn into what he was saying,” said Miller, 69.

Miller said Obama’s speech “was right up there at the top” when compared to other political speeches he has attended. He compared it to Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention that propelled the then-state senator to national prominence.

“It was exhilarating, moving, encouraging and hopeful,” he said.

Well, by a stroke of chance, he was at the caucuses at Mason Middle School today. Because he’s a really, really nice guy and editors salivate when we do follow-ups, I asked him about his caucus. He’s in Precinct 306, which overwhelmingly voted for Obama.

“Obama’s my guy,” he said. “I’ve never seen a turnout this big, and I think it’s greatly attributed to Obama.”

It's unofficially official: Barack Obama has won the most delegates from each precinct at the caucuses at Mason Middle School.

I’ll have to double-check, but I believe Sen. Barack Obama won the most delegates from each precinct caucus at Mason Middle School in Tacoma today.

Now each group is electing delegates to the county convention.

Bill Baarsma was pumped. They read the first delegate count for Precinct 305, and Sen. Barack Obama had almost doubled Sen. Hillary Clinton’s count. The mayor clapped his hands, pumped his fists and let out a yelp.

He’s the most vocal person in his caucus. It’s a noisy atmosphere, so he’s acting as a human microphone: A speaker will say something, and he’ll scream it out louder.

Gov. Chris Gregoire just told CNN that she thinks Barack Obama will win here today.

She endorsed Obama yesterday, but says she's a Hillary Cilnton fan as well and will work hard for either candidate who emerges with the nomination.

Things are winding down here and people are starting to filter out of both the Democratic and Republican sides of the caucuses at the Elks Lodge.

The whole thing feels like a flash mob: A large amount of people show up at a precise time, do something crazy and then leave.

Not that participating in a caucus is crazy, but it is ... chaotic. I saw people sweating.

We're still waiting for a crowd count...

A gentleman just stopped by our table and said "I have never seen such excitement in the Republican party in my life."

Brad Shannon reports on his blog that folks turned out to see Mike Huckabee's wife, Janet, today in Olympia.

Here's a link.

The sign-in sheets ask caucusers if they’re disabled, what ethnicity they are – stuff like that.

They also ask if you’re LGBT. I’ve heard dozens of people yelling out, “What is LGBT? Does anyone know?”

For the record, it stands for “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.”

For folks who've been wondering how Brian Ebersole is doing after his involvement in a serious car accident, a friend called to say that the former Tacoma mayor is attending the Democratic caucus at Truman Middle School this afternoon.

I just ran into Tacoma City Councilwoman Julie Anderson at Mason Middle School. She’s sporting a pair of Obama buttons on her blue vest. She said the senator first landed on her radar after his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and she also has had the chance to watch him speak again. She’s sold.

“I haven’t seen people so hopeful – ever,” she said. “I have to get behind that kind of passion.”

The debate has started.

I've been wandering around to the dozens of precinct tables, eavesdropping (with permission, of course).

One table is so packed, a woman who belongs to the precinct is sitting in a spare chair on the other end of the room.

Jessica McKay, 26, is a member of that precinct: 25-164. She was standing at the opposite end of the bar with her daughter after signing in because there was nowhere to sit at the table.

=> Read more!

It’s a good thing The News Tribune doesn’t allow its reporters to participate in the caucus. I’m the kind of guy who would be won over by free coffee and cookies.

Mmmmm… free.

Nathe Laver has the not-always-so-fun job of trying to organize this mayhem.

It’s becoming obvious there just aren’t enough places for people to sit in either the gymnasium or the multi-purpose room at Mason Middle School. Folks are sitting on the floor, leaning against the walls and standing in aisles.

And it’s gonna get worse: More people still need to check in.

I'm in the Republican side of the 25th District caucuses at the Puyallup Elks Club.

It's 1:30 and the sign-in process appears to be over. Some officials are getting up to speak.

One lead a cheer: "Why are we all here today?"

=> Read more!

I talked to reporter Joseph Montes, who's at Stanley Elementary.

He estimates there are several hundred people there, and the majority of them are wearing Obama in '08 stickers, which are being handed out by a few people.

One voter approached Joseph and said that, when he checked in and said he was voting for Hillary, someone (although we're not sure if it was an organizer or just a confused individual) told him he'd need to leave: This was an Obama only event.

The man told her, No, it's a Democrat-only event and the situation was eventually remedied.

I'm at the caucuses in Puyallup (25th District). They're held at the Elks Lodge, with Republicans in one room and Democrats in another.

It's crazy.

=> Read more!

This has been a crazy week for our Public Life Team as we cover two major stories: the presidential campaign and the announcement that Chambers Bay will host the U.S. Open.

Yesterday, county reporter David Wickert was the first to report the decision to bring the tournament here. Today, he reported on the reaction.

He's in the office today for the next report: taking a step back and looking at how it happened. He's interviewed lots of folks and has a stack of documents from a public records request we filed with the county earlier this month.

The story should be online tonight and in print tomorrow.

The gymnasium at Mason Middle School is crammed with people signing in, finding seats, catching up with neighbors and doing a little early campaigning.

People have campaign gear stashed everywhere: bumper stickers on shirts, lawn signs hung over backs and, of course, plenty and plenty of buttons.

There's an overabundance of homemade signs, mostly for Sen. Barack Obama. There's one written in blue, red and yellow that reads "Barack my world." Another tapes the cover of a Newsweek issue and quotes from the magazine's glowing profile of the candidate.

They’ll open the doors at Mason Middle School in Tacoma’s North End in about five minutes. It’s pretty calm now. Soon, not so much.

From The AP:

Huckabee took a lead in early results from Kansas. He had 61 percent of the vote, compared to 24 percent for McCain, and 11 percent for Paul.

Fox News and CNN are projecting that Huckabee will win the Kansas caucus.

You think turnout had anything to do with it? Moderates might have stayed home since John McCain is the presumptive nominee. That leaves a candidate with Huckabee's conservative Christian backers able to dominate a caucus system.

Wonder if that will happen here today?

The caucuses begin in a few minutes. For those who like Mike Huckabee, they can take comfort in knowing he's staying in the race.

Here's the latest:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Mike Huckabee on Saturday said he won’t quit the presidential race and rejected suggestions John McCain is the party’s inevitable nominee, saying the voters in remaining states deserve an election, not a coronation.

“I didn’t major in math,” the former Arkansas governor told a cheering crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference meeting. “I majored in miracles, and I still believe in them.”

Huckabee, who trails in the nomination race with 198 delegates to McCain’s 719, said he was aware there had been rumors that he might quit the race, but assured conservatives: “Am I quitting? No.”

“There are only a few states that have voted — 27 have not,” Huckabee said. “People in those 27 states deserve more than a coronation, they deserve an election.”

=> Read more!

Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are competing for delegates in two other states and the Virgin Islands today. There are Republican contests in two states and Guam.

Here's a synopsis from The Associated Press:

A total of 158 delegates was at stake in the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Nebraska and Washington. Caucuses in the Virgin Islands offered three more.

Clinton began the day with a slender delegate lead in The Associated Press count. She had 1,055 delegates to 998 for Obama. A total of 2,025 is required to win the nomination at the party convention in Denver.

Republican contests in Louisiana, Kansas and Guam provided John McCain a chance to advance closer to the 1,191 delegates he needs to make his nomination official.

The Arizona senator began the day with 719 delegates. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, with 198, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, with 14, were his only remaining rivals following Mitt Romney’s withdrawal from the race.

My job seems to have segued from reporter to full-time caucus finder for readers, and a few have asked the same question: If you skip the caucus, can you still vote in November?

The answer: Absolutely. This is a party exercise, not really an election in the traditional sense. And not voting -- or voting for a particular party -- doesn't affect your right to vote in November.

Have y’all checked out videographer Joe Barrentine’s latest piece on the Clinton speech at the University of Puget Sound yesterday? If not, click here.

Fine folks,

Did you take a digital camera or cameraphone to the Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or John McCain speeches yesterday? Did you get a snapshot of your favorite candidate? Or just a picture of you and your friends wearing your favorite “Chileans for Billary” or “Johnny Mac Fan Club” t-shirts? Send it to us!

Follow this link, and we’ll post it online.

The Seattle Times has a story about the Dems' "caucus finder" Web site and the problems it's having this morning.

Caucus day is already causing some headaches.

We've received some calls here at The News Tribune from people trying to call the Republican and Democratic numbers to find their caucus sites. Apparently the GOP number doesn't pick up, and a voicemail box for the Dems is full.

And it must be a long, long weekend for one individual. Both numbers are 206 area code, but a few have mentioned trying to call the Democratic number but with a 253 area code. Apparently it's a man who has already set up his answering machine to direct people to the correct number. I'd call to verify, but that seems like piling on.

Four reporters, two photographers and a videographer will be out covering some Democratic and Republican caucuses today around Pierce County.

The caucuses begin at 1 p.m., so check here for updates.

The parties expect to start reporting results late in the afternoon.

Niki is out of pocket now, but here's a report she just filed:

John McCain told a crowd of several hundred supporters in downtown Seattle today that his work to secure the Republican presidential nomination is far from over.

"I'd like to give you a little straight talk: We're doing very well," he said. "We're doing very well. But it's not over, and we need to continue this campaign and we need to get out and vote (Saturday)."

The presumptive Republican nominee told the crowd that, if elected president, he would capture Osama bin Laden, veto congressional earmarks and improve health care for members of the military.

But first, he has to unify the party.

"We let spending get completely out of control, we Republicans," he told reporters. "I understand that I have to unify the party. I also understand that our base is disspirited about spending, which is the main reason we lost the 2006 elections."

=> Read more!

Reason No. 1,234 that some TV reporters have made me want to take karate:

McCain was on stage, getting a heartfelt introduction by Slade Gorton, and all the sudden we hear:

"Am I the last element? Am I the LAST element?"

Heads turn.

"AM I the LAST element?"

The bespackled TV reporter is shushed. Yet undeterred.

"No, AM I THE LAST ELEMENT?"

On the ride from Boeing Field to the Westin in downtown, McCain covered a lot of (figurative) ground.

1. On the caucuses tomorrow:
"Caucuses are always more difficult for us than primaries, as we know. I hope that we can get a turnout tomorrow and pick up some more delegates."
He said he could only recall winning one other caucus state.

2. On being the presumptive nominee:
"The only comment I have is we're going to have to continue working hard. Huckabee said that he's continuing in the race. We want our people to know that he's still in the race," he said.
Echoing the it-ain't-over-til-it's-over mentality, he said:
"We've got to try to get this thing. We need a sufficient number of delegates. Also we have to, as we mentioned, try to unify the party. Our base needs to be energized. I mentioned earlier that disspiritedness over spending. Everyone knows about the bridge to nowhere." (And then he nodded at me, briefly, as if to say, Right? You do know about it, yes? Yes.)

=> Read more!

I just got off the bus and rode up the 7 escalators to the eighth floor of the Westin, where McCain will appear in about a half hour. (Got that all down?) Right now, he's in a private cocktail hour with some donors.

First, the scene at Westin: We're in some kind of ballroom. On one end, there's a short stage with five American flags. (I suppose at some point I can stop specifying that the flags at campaign events are American ... ) On the other end, the media bay. In between, several hundred McCain admirers.

=> Read more!

I'm catching up with a lot of stuff that happened today.

One of them was House passage of House Bill 2479, sponsored by Rep. Dawn Morrell, D-Puyallup. The bill prohibits anyone from publishing a private cell phone number in a commercial telephone directory without the express permission of the cell phone customer.

It passed 92-3 and now goes to the Senate.

I don't own a cell phone, but I understand those of you who do don't like unsolicited callers using up your minutes. State law already imposes fines up to $50,000 on wireless companies if they publish cell phone numbers or give them publishing companies without permission.

If you missed the appearances – or even if you saw one and want to watch it again – TVW has you covered.

The public affairs station covered both events today and will air them both in full tonight at 7 p.m. and throughout the weekend. That's channel 23 on Comcast and 84 on Click.

Viewers can also watch both in streaming video at tvw.org.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire went out on a limb when she announced Friday that she is endorsing Barack Obama. She's known Sen. Hillary Clinton for a long time and no one would have questioned her had she endorsed Clinton.

But in introducing Obama at the rally at Key Arena Friday afternoon, Gregoire confessed to "some soul-seaching" and "a lot of debating" before she made up her mind. Saturday, the governor will attend several caucuses to make a pitch for Obama.

She will not, however, attend her own caucus and cast a vote for the Illinois senator, according to a spokesman.

She will get another shot. As a Democratic governor, Gregoire is a super delegate - meaning she can attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver and cast a vote to nominate Obama, should he make it that far.

At the end of HIllary's speech earlier today, she did a Q&A session. One man with an accent got up to ask something about immigration. I didn't catch it.

Anyhow, she used it as a springboard to a talk about her plans for immigration.

Here's what she had to say:

"We do need to toughen our border security. It's not only our southern border, it's our northern border, too. It's our ports of entry."

She said we need to "crack down" on employers who exploit foreign workers.

"I hear all the voices that say, 'we should just round them up and deport them.' Number one, that's never going to happen."

=> Read more!

I'm in a swanky mini-bus parked at Boeing Field with a half dozen other reporters, waiting for John McCain to join us.

What makes it swanky? Black vinyl seats, mood lighting and a cafe table.

If I don't get car sick, I'll attempt to post in motion. The thought is kind of making me queasy.

Here are more notes from reporter Susan Gordon, who was at the Clinton event at the University of Puget Sound:

A group organized by the American Federation of State County and Municipal employees included three generations of a Puyallup-area family. Grandmother Anna Pollari, 71, a retired teacher, joined her daughter, Linda Lansing, 41, a Puyallup city employee and union activist, and her granddaughter, Ashleigh Lansing, 23, who sells Mary Kay cosmetics. Pollari didn't get a chance to ask Clinton a question, but she had one ready: "How would you finance health care for uninsured people like my granddaughter who can't afford insurance?" It's a real dilemma, said Ashleigh. "It's either health insurance or a car payment, and I've got to be able to drive."

Because they were part of an invited group of union leaders, the family was seated near the podium. Afterwards, they pressed close enough to Clinton to come away with autographed campaign signs. Linda Lansing said she will try to sway others at her caucus on Saturday to vote for Clinton. "It will be my first caucus, but I know the importance of it," she said. Ashleigh, who had planned to go out of town, said she may have to delay the trip to cast a caucus vote. "I'm definitely thinking about it," she said.

=> Read more!

Here's a video I compiled from Obama's visit and press conference earlier today.

Reporter Susan Gordon helped cover the Hillary Clinton event at the University of Puget Sound. Here are some of her observations:

Four University of Puget Sound students – all self-professed Hillary backers – were first in line to see Clinton at UPS this morning. They showed up at about 7 a.m. and saved a place for a buddy, Kate Simeon, who arrived a little later. "She was on 'Sesame Street' when I was like 5," said Simeon, 19, a freshman from Eagle River, Alaska, who carried a blue Hillary campaign sign she had picked up at Clinton's Thursday night rally in Seattle.

Another early arrival was Roberta Chargin, 64, of Northeast Tacoma, who showed up at 8 a.m. and snagged a metal chair from inside the field house so she could wait comfortably. "I've been a Hillary fan ever since Bill was in the White House," she said. "I think it's high time for a woman" president.

Pierce County Councilman Calvin Goings, a Puyallup Democrat who is running for county executive, brought supporters and campaign signs of his own and began working the crowd before 9 a.m. "How are you guys doing?" he asked, smiling. "Thank you for you for being here."

=> Read more!

The House and Senate will be in day-long sessions next week. Often, they will go into the night.

Tuesday is the deadline for the money committees to pass bills. So, starting Wednesday morning, Feb. 13, both chambers will be in full-tilt mode. First, they'll go behind closed doors and debate the bills they want to pass and the amendments they want. Then, they'll come out on the floor and vote.

That will happen in both the House and Senate and will continue until 5 p.m. Feb. 19. They likely will work Saturday, but take Sunday the 17th off.

Obama is off the stage. His speech took about 45 minutes. I'll be bringing some video and audio later this afternoon.

So much for the bill sponsored by state Sen. Marilyn Rasmussen, D-Eatonville. She actually tried to persuade her colleages to make the cougar the state's official mammal. Marilyn said she was doing it for a group of school kids from Carbonado. Yeah, right.

That bill is dead, as well it should be. It never budged out of the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee because the committee chairwoman killed it.

"As a Husky, I will never move a cougar bill," Sen. Darlene Fairley, D-Lake Forest Park, said after tne noon-hour meeting of her committee.

(If readers detect a bit of bias in this account, they should. I must disclose that I attended the University of Washington from 1973 to 1976. For a more objective account of this bill, I refer readers to Chris Mulick's blog in the Tri-City Herald. Although, I must point out that Mulick has WSU alumni collegiate license plates on his car in the parking lot. For the moment, anyway.)

Although I believe the Carbonado school children were genuine in their quest, I'd want to know how many of their parents are alumni of the cow college. I suspect a Wazzu plot. Heck, if the Legislature gave the UW $150 million in state funds for Husky stadium and WSU got the cougar as official state mammal, those WSU grads would think they came out ahead this session.

Here's what Darlene's real priorities are for this session:

=> Read more!

Obama, parodying his critics, just called himself a "hopemonger."

Barack Obama is slamming John McCain for his pro-war stance, saying he's happy to debate him about it.

He says the Arizona senator is "perpetuating the failed Bush (foreign) policies."

Need more comparisons between an Obama rally and a Beatles concert?

A woman in attendance apparently just fainted.

Republicans staged a walk-out of the House Transportation Committee this morning to protest Democrats' refusal to hold hearings on bills of importance to some GOP members. I certainly won't make light of their serious safety concerns about Highway 2 up north.

But I have to point out that Republicans are woefully outnumbered in the House 63-35, so it's not as if anyone would miss them. One Republican committee member, who must remain anonymous for obvious reasons, remarked that at least he could get a head start driving home for the weekend.

Here's the official indignant news release from Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish:

=> Read more!

Barack Obama is talking about changes in health care.

"We're not going to wait to do this. We're going to do this by the end of my first term!" he told the crowd.

First term? Sounds like there's no four-and-out for him if he wins.

Remember the story about Sen. Barack Obama and Vice President Dick Cheney being distant relatives? Obama just joked about it:

It’s kind of embarrassing to be related to Dick Cheney. You always kind of expect to be related to somebody cool. That was a bit of a letdown.

Early in the speech, someone from the crowd yelled, “I love you!”

Cheers.

Obama smiled. “Well, I love you back.”

More cheers.

Obama just stepped on stage. I've been at KeyArena many times for SuperSonics games, but I've never heard it this loud.

Then again, I think Obama has won more states than the Sonics have games this year.

Gov. Chris Gregoire said she decided to endorse Obama after lots of "soul-searching and debating." She drew the loudest cheers so far.

Rep. Adam Smith is on the stump now. Usual boilerplate stuff, but here's the best quote so far:

He is right on the issues. On health care. On energy. On changing our foreign policy. He’s right on the issues, but he’s the only person in this race with ability to deliver. The only person with the ability to bring people together and make those changes.

They just introduced Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. There was a significant amount of boos when he walked to the stage.

But here's how he started off:

"I gave the fire chief the day off today," he said. "This building holds 18,000 people and we are over capacity!"

No boos there.

It took a little work, but I'm inside KeyArena. It's at capacity, and the crowd is rocking in here. They're chanting, doing the wave and singing along to the music thumping from the speakers.

Thousands of people who couldn't get in are outside chanting Obama.

Update: There will likely be little to no blogging from KeyArena. The Internet connection via the aircard is so jammed with a capacity crowd that it takes forever to send a simple e-mail, much less upload photos and audio (and a video I made).

Here's another sly dig at Barack Obama.

When talking about the prospect of providing universal healthcare, she said:
"My opponent is saying, No, we can't. Well, I say, Yes, we can and, yes, we will!"

(Are there way too many commas in that or what?)

The reference is to Barack Obama's rallying cry, borrowed from labor leader Cesar Chavez, "Yes we can." (Or "Si, se puede," depending.)

Now playing: Tom Petty's, "American Girl"

Interesting stuff from AP's David Ammons, who interviewed Gov. Chris Gregoire about her decision to endorse Barack Obama.

Gregoire said taking sides could hurt her politically. Both of the state’s senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, and many of the state’s female leaders who are among Gregoire’s biggest backers, have signed onto the Clinton campaign and lobbied her to do likewise.

Gregoire was the state’s first female attorney general and is only the second woman governor in Washington since statehood. Washington is the only state with a female governor and both U.S. senators.

But Obama is quite popular in the Democratic strongholds of Seattle and other urban areas, and the Obama endorsement could help centrist Gregoire there.

“Lots of people said, ’Just stay out of it,”’ said Gregoire, who faces a potentially tough re-election campaign of her own this fall.

“But all of my friends are going to caucus on Saturday and will be asked to make up their mind, so why shouldn’t I? It was time for me to make up my mind.”

=> Read more!

The Associated Press just moved this item. We've heard that folks around here got this call, too.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Some Democratic voters in Washington state received recorded messages from Barack Obama’s campaign telling them to caucus for Obama on Sunday.

The problem is, Washington state’s caucus is on Saturday.

The Obama campaign said Friday that the calls, which began on Thursday, should have instead been made in Maine, which holds its caucus on Sunday.

“The problem has been resolved, and those voters are being called back with the correct information,” said Obama spokeswoman Amy Brundage.

Peter Callaghan called to report that thousands of people are milling outside KeyArena for the Barack Obama rally.

Streams of folks are walking away because the arena is filled to capacity and they're not letting any more in.

The place is filled to the rafters. "Let's just say the Sonics haven't done this well in awhile," he says.

So far, Hillary has continued the criticism of President Bush that was a cornerstone of her speech last night in Seattle.

And, true to last night, she's been mum on Barack Obama. There have been a couple obtuse references. Here's a good one:

"It's not just about the speeches we make," she said. "I want you to know why you're supporting me."

The remark underscores her portrayal of Barack Obama as a sweet talker who lacks substance.

Hunter blogged this morning about a conversation between Norm Dicks and Hillary Clinton. She called to ask him what issues were important to people of this area, and he told her the Puget Sound topped the list.

She just said:
"I will work with ... Norm Dicks, the congressional delegation and state leaders to restore the Puget Sound to give it the national priority that it deserves to have.
I believe we owe our highest duty to the environment."

She said the Puget Sound is a national priority and has "all kinds of business and pleasure" opportunities. The crowd loved it.

The press follows Sen. Barack Obama -- and all the presidential candidates -- like a hip-hop star's entourage. During the factory visit, here's just the photographers and videographers hoping to get shots of the candidate.

Throughout the McKinstry Company’s buildings, banners tout the manufacturing company’s commitment to green technology. Sen. Barack Obama used the Seattle company’s building as a venue to tout his climate-change proposals.

Before hosting a press conference in which he promoted his plans, he toured the company’s warehouse, cafeteria and offices. He strode among workers shooting sparks into the sky with their welders in the warehouse, and he stopped to sign one worker’s copy of “Audacity of Hope,” a book he authored in 2006.

Upon one wall of the warehouse sits several dozen sheet-metal jerseys – hung like retired jerseys at a baseball stadium – with long-time employees’ names and the years they worked. There was a jersey for Obama with the number 8.

“Congratulations McKinstry on doing such a great job!” Obama signed it.

He then moved to the company’s cafeteria and walked through a cubicle-filled office, shaking hands and chatting along the way.

During the press conference, one reporter asked the candidate about the significance of Washington’s caucuses Saturday.

“Many in Washington state thought our vote wouldn’t count,” the reporter said.

The senator cut him off.

“It does now,” he said to applause.

A rep from the American Nurse's Association is here.

You know how some people pronounce it "Warshington?" Well, she's one of them.

She said she was glad to have come from Wa(r)shington, D.C. to the great state of Wa(r)shington.

A hush spread across the crowd, followed by audible giggles.

OK, now she's talking policy... gotta go.

Update: The fire marshal is estimating 6,000 people are here. I'm estimating about 2,000 of them giggled.

Congressman Jay Inslee just took the stage. He used a joke he made last night, and this time it got even better reception.

"I want to get something off my chest. Some people have said America's not ready to elect a woman president."

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOO."

"But I stand for the proposition that if America can elect the single most incompetent man in the nation ... " and then the cheers drowned him out.

The point: If we can elect a monkey, we can elect a woman. That seemed to work for the crowd.

Now Clinton's on stage with Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray.

Pete and I are out of the press conference. Obama talked mostly about his climate-change proposals, but he also touched on gun control, whether superdelegates should vote against their constituents' will and other topics.

I'll post some videos and more details soon.

Former Governor Gary Locke just took the microphone.

"I got a couple questions for you. Are we going to the caucuses tomorrow?"

"YEAH!"

What time? One. You knew that.

"Be there, be square." He said it.

He's leading a chant, "Who are we supporting? HILLARY!"

Generally the media like to at least attempt to blend in, but at an event like this ... well, see for yourself:

Here's another view:

Now playing: Dixie Chicks, "Ready to Run."

"I just found out today," state Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, said of test results that checked for cancer and found none. I ran into him outside the House Appropriations Committee meeting.

Hunter underwent treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma last year and nearly died from the intensity of the chemotherapy. I barely recognized him last summer when I saw him on TV Washington programs of committee hearings and such.

But he's all the way back now, with a few extra gray hairs. He looks really healthy and sounds good too. Really upbeat.

Hunter was planning a run for Congress, against incumbent U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, Republican in the 8th Congressional District. Then, the cancer diagnosis came.

Hunter is chairman of the House Finance Committee and will be running for re-election to the state House this fall. But don't rule him our for the U.S. House. You'll probably see him in that race some day.

Another item from Les Blumenthal:

Rep. Norm Dick’s cell phone rang early this morning. It was Hillary Clinton.

Since she's in Tacoma today, she wanted to know what's on the minds of South Sound voters. Dicks, according to aide George Behan, stressed the importance of the Puget Sound cleanup. Dicks helped secure funding to clean up New York’s Long Island Sound. Clinton is a senator from that state.

Clinton was evidently still pumped up from last night’s event in Seattle and told Dicks she had publicly thanked him for his endorsement during her speech.

Just a little 5-minute chit-chat.

From DC correspondent Les Blumenthal:

A week ago when the House first voted on a $146 billion economic stimulus plan, Washington Rep. Adam Smith was one of 10 Democrats who voted no. Thursday, when the House considered a final version that provided increased benefits to seniors and veterans, Smith was AWOL.

Smith was in Washington state attending to presidential political duties. He’s the state chairman for Barrack Obama, who visits the state today. Also missing from the House vote was Washington Rep. Jay Inslee, one of Hillary Clinton’s state chairmen.

Never shy about bucking the establishment, Smith opposed the original version of the bill, saying it was the wrong type of package, there were no guarantees it would work and it would add to the $9 billion debt.

If he had been on the floor Thursday night, he still would have voted no, said Derrick Crowe, a Smith spokesman. Crowe said his boss had the same concerns he initially had.

In the end, it wouldn’t have mattered much how Smith voted. The House approved the stimulus package 380-34.

I'm old enough to have seen that first episode. The show was cancelled by the time my colleague, Niki Sullivan, was born.

Anyway, here's how the Senate keeps busy:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Feb. 7, 2008

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of J.P. Patches’ first show

OLYMPIA — If you were a child between the years of 1958-1981 chances are you watched the comical show of J.P. Patches. On Feb. 8, 2008 Washington celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the first J.P. Patches show.

Julius Pierpont Patches (J.P. to his "Pals") helped raise a generation of Northwest children when he started airing his daily children’s shows for KIRO. This show was the first to do live show broadcast and would later be the first local program broadcast in full color.

The person behind the makeup, Chris Wedes, used a broad, slapstick and energetic style that was a welcome shock to the children of the Seattle area. “I am touched by your love of Patches Pals,” said Chris Wedes.

=> Read more!

Here's a couple pictures I took on my phone of the crowd, which is still filtering in. If you're super industrious, you can paste them together and make a panoramic shot!!

Now playing: "Life is a Highway"

Now playing: The Boss.

Update: Curt Woodward of the AP tells me the fire marshall estimates there are about 5,000 people here.
Lisa Fruichantie of Northwest Sound and Stage tells me they were originally looking for a building that could hold 400 people. The bigger-than-expected crowd last night in Seattle prompted them to pull out more bleachers for today's event.

I just got into the Hillary Clinton town hall at UPS and set up my computer ... behind a bay of TV cameramen.

Guess what song is playing?

"Suddenly I see ... " Yes, again.

There looks to be a few thousand people here, many holding Clinton signs. As you might expect at an event hosted by a college, there are a lot of young people.

Susan Gordon, who's also covering the event, said she talked to the first people in line this morning. They were a group of UPS students who said they scoped the place out around midnight and figured they were safe. They came back around 7 this morning. The line snaked for a few blocks by 10 a.m., but there were still people showing up.

I see that my colleague, Scott, already posted something from the Associated Press, but here's what Gregoire's reelection campaign issued this morning:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – February 8, 2008
Contact: Kelly Evans, (206) 382-2008

Gov. Gregoire’s statement on Presidential endorsement

SEATTLE – Democrats in Washington state and across the country are fortunate to have the opportunity to select between two outstanding candidates, either of whom would be a great president. I have decided to endorse Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.

=> Read more!

Finally. I had hoped I wasn't being overly suspicious that Gov. Chris Gregoire wasn't at Pier 30 last night. And I wasn't (this time): She's endorsing Barack Obama (as we posted below).

She'll join him at KeyArena in Seattle at 11 a.m. and reporter Scott Fontaine will be there to cover it for the blog and tomorrow's paper.

I'm headed to UPS in a minute to see Hillary Clinton's town hall-style talk on healthcare. I heard from UPS spokeswoman Melissa Rohlfs about an hour ago that people were already lined up.

Later today, I'll join John McCain on a bus from Boeing Field to the Westin in Seattle. McCain may have all but sealed the Republican nomination, but he has some more big news today: President Bush may throw an endorsement his way. (Or maybe that's already happened. I don't have TV.)

A friend wrote me last night to wonder: With the lowest approval rating in history, will Bush's endorsement help or hurt McCain?

We'll find out soon enough!

Pete Callaghan and I are heading up to Seattle a little bit early. Democratic candidate Barack Obama is touring the McKinstry Company, a mechanical engineering company in Seattle. He’ll have a press conference afterward, and I’ll post some video from that later today.

This advisory just came in from the Seattle Police

Seattle Police Traffic Advisory

The Seattle Police Department would like to alert all motorists to potential traffic congestion and commuting delays especially in the downtown and South Lake Union area on Friday, February 8th, 2008.

There will be a rally for presidential candidate Barack Obama at the Key Arena starting at 1:00 P.M. There will also be a funeral procession for deceased Seattle Fire Department Chief James Scragg starting at 1:00 P.M. The Seattle Police Department will be providing escort and traffic control for the funeral procession.

The funeral procession will start at 5th Avenue and Battery Street. The procession will travel south on 5th Avenue to Blanchard Street, east on Blanchard Street to Westlake Avenue, north on Westlake Avenue and Westlake Avenue North to Valley Street, east on Valley Street to Terry Avenue North, and north on Terry Avenue North to the U.S. Naval Reserve Center located at South Lake Union.

Anyone planning on attending either of those events or who may be traveling in the area of those events should expect extremely heavy traffic and plan accordingly.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has finally endorsed a candidate for president. From the Associated Press:

Gov. Chris Gregoire endorsed Barack Obama for president Friday, providing a last-minute lift to the Illinois senator on the eve of the state’s hotly contested Democratic caucuses.

Gregoire, announcing her choice in an interview with The Associated Press, said that taking sides in the close contest for the Democratic nomination was tough, given her great admiration for Sen. Hillary Clinton.

But she said Obama is a charismatic and skilled leader who can bring the country together, help solve nagging problems, and restore the country’s image abroad.

Gregoire planned to join Obama in a major campaign rally at Seattle’s KeyArena on Friday. Clinton also is in the state, making appearances in Tacoma and Spokane on Friday to follow up on her rally in Seattle Thursday night.

The Democratic caucuses are Saturday afternoon, a process that will allot all of the state’s 78 elected national delegates.

=> Read more!

In addition to covering the usual talking points (war, bad; universal healthcare, good), Clinton took some time to show Washington's voters that she knows our state.

"Washington has done an enormous amount to help put our country on the right track when it comes to clean energy" and halting global warming.

She railed on President George Bush for a bit, but had little to say of her current opponents.

On McCain: "It's clearly going to be more of the same from John McCain." We can infer that "more of the same" refers to what she called "cowboy diplomacy."

On Obama: "My opponent, Obama, has given up on universal healthcare."

Oh, and one more name I was listening for: Gov. Chris Gregoire. It was nowhere to be heard. She has one day left to make the endorsement she's promised.

I won't beleaguer the point, but I did hear one of the members of the media say something to this effect:

"Someone needs to be severely berated for picking this place."

Clinton's campaign scrambled to find a location in Tacoma on short notice, which Jason Hagey blogged about today. Hopefully the crowd (or the media, at least) will take more kindly to the fieldhouse at UPS.

I just filed my story. Try writing a meaningful summation of events when you have 15 butts in your face and people are screaming.

Anyway, here's one of my favorite parts: A dig that State Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz will love...

"I know some people have been getting ballots in the mail and saying, Well, what's that about?" she said.

"Well, I don't know," she said, smiling.

The crowd laughed.

The joke was a reference to the state primaries, which will have absolutely nothing to do with allocating Democratic delegates. Republicans will use the results to apportion about half of their delegates.

Pelz and Secretary of State Sam Reed, who, it being his job and all, happens to like the primaries, have been sparring over the issue recently. Understandably, Clinton (who needs the delegates, not to win what Pelz calls a "beauty contest") is siding with Pelz.

Clinton is talking about her energy plan. She said she got a briefing on the plane of all the companies in Washington that are helping "transform America and the world."

She ticked them off, followed by, "It's happening here."

"Boeing 787. Twenty percent greater fuel efficiency," she said. "It's happening here."

You get it. Back to note taking.

King County Executive Ron Sims is up.

In contrast to my interviews with people earlier who didn't seem to care about caucusing, he lead a fiery chant:

"Where are you going to be on Saturday?"

Working!

Kidding, they said "Caucusing."

What time?

"One!"

"One. You've got to be there at one for your vote to count."

But you really should get there early. Maybe 12:30.

Former Governor Gary Locke just took the stage. Referring to an incident a few minutes ago when the fire alarm was accidentally set off and the announcer said there was "no emergency," Lock said:

"There is an emergency. We've had 8 years of President Bush. We need to save America."

Cheers, cheers.

So we're in the Pier 30 Event Center, which is essentially a hollowed-out Costco-sized building. I would call it an industrial barn.

There's two gigantic American flags hanging. A few thousand people stand, craning their necks.

Bruce Springsteen is now playing on the loudspeaker, and a number of people are clapping along to the music, chanting Hillary's name.

And now they're done.

I just overheard a conversation between an event worker (with the most annoying job ever -- trying to keep people out of the national press-only area) and someone (who was, predictably, trying to talk her way into the national press-only area).

"I heard there are 7,000 people here."
"Really? Wow."
"Yeah, we're at capacity."
"That's great." (pause) "Well, how big is KeyArena."
Bigger.

Someone just announced over the microphone that Hillary's jet has landed and she's about 15 minutes away.

I've been meandering through the crowd, talking to people. One thing that's struck me is how few people actually plan on caucusing on Saturday.

Aside from the guy who didn't know what it meant, I've talked to about a half dozen people in their 20s -- the crowd Obama is most popular with -- who seem lukewarm on the prospect of tracking down their precinct caucus location for a fun-filled afternoon of participatory democracy.

Here's an image from where I sit. The stage is under the American flag. And I am looking through several TV camera people's legs.

Now playing: That song with the lyrics "Suddenly I see, this is what I want to be." I won't read too much into it.

I just left my computer in the care of Carl Ballard from Horse's Ass to go interview a few members of the crowd.

First I spoke with Jennifer Crane, 23, who drove down from Bellingham with some friends.

"We are voting for Hillary ... Hillary seems more prepared, more well-versed and more experienced. Plus, you get Bill. It's a package deal."

She said she'd try to caucus on Saturday but work might get in the way.

Then I spoke with John Young, 32. He said he's from D.C. but came down from somewhere in the Central District today.

He made the trip because he wanted to see the next president of the United States. I asked if he were going to see Barack Obama at KeyArena tomorrow.

Yes, he will. Will he vote?

"I ain't voting. I think the whole system is rigged anyway."

Will he caucus?

"Where is it?"

All over. Literally everywhere.

"I don't even know what a caucus is."

On the loud speakers: Dixie Chicks, "Ready to Run." And I did.

I'm at the Hillary Clinton rally at Pier 30 and have my computer set up -- finally.

I parked something like a trillion blocks away and ran almost all the way here. (I almost had a great spot but a car full of older 'ladies' flipped a u-turn and stole it... )

The moral of the story is: Cars were parallel parked for as far as the eye could see.

Right now, people are still filing in and Shania Twain is playing.

I just got off the phone with one of the organizers for tonight's Hillary Clinton rally in Seattle.

She said Clinton's plane is running late, but she'll likely start speaking by 9 p.m. She said Former Gov. Gary Locke will speak, along with a few others.

Any news on whether the current governor will be there?

"I don't know. I'm just an organizer."

Hmmm.

Looks like all these candidate visits are bringing endorsements out of the woodwork. First Dicks, now Reichert. From the AP:

Republican Congressman Dave Reichert is endorsing John McCain, the apparent GOP presidential nominee.
Reichert was once the state chairman of Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign, and national co-chairman of Law Enforcement for Rudy...
Reichert says it’s clear McCain will be the nominee, and says he’s welcoming the Arizona senator to Washington state on Friday.

I'm still waiting for the governor to hold up to her promise of endorsing a candidate before Saturday's caucuses. Ahem.

The Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs (WACOPS) has given Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, its Legislator of the Year Award.

We're not sure whether it's for 2007 or 2008. (The press release uses both years.) But he may well deserve the award for this year, too, if Kilmer can pull off the incredible boost to the pension plans that he is seeking for cops and firefighters.

Kilmer is prime sponsor of Senate Bill 6573, which would earmark as much as $25 million a year into the pension plan for police officers and firefighters who were hired after 1977. Those public safety folks are in the LEOFF 2 pension plan, often referred to as the "Left Out" plan by those who are enrolled in it.

That's because the benefits are so much worse than those in LEOFF 1, the crop of officers and firefighters hired before 1977. The money from SB 6573 would be used to sweeten retirement benefits for the "Left Out" group.

Here's the news release from Kilmer's office:

=> Read more!

U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks called Hillary Clinton on Thursday and told her that she was welcome to use his name during her campaign appearance in Tacoma Friday.

"He just told her that she should feel free to say he strongly supports her candidacy," said Dicks' spokesman George Behan.

Dicks, who is a Democratic superdelegate and will attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver, had been holding off making an endorsement. But the closeness of the race and the upcoming state Democratic caucuses convinced him that he should weigh in.

"Obviously he was close to her anyway," Behan said.

Dicks will not be in Tacoma for the rally Friday. The House worked into the evening Thursday on the economic stimulus package and he would not have been able to arrive in time for the rally, Behan said.

I just left a message for Sen. Marilyn Rasmussen, D-Eatonville, asking what the heck she's doing sponsoring a bill that would designate the cougar the official state mammal.

One doesn't choose sides, especially in an election year. Not between cougars and huskies. Right?

Then I looked at the other sponsors of Senate Bill 6918: Ken Jacobsen, D-Huskyville, Rosa Franklin, unaffiliated, I think. Bob Morton and Mark Schoesler I can understand. They're from Eastern Washington and undoubtedly would back up anything that's remotely connected to Washington State University.

Turns out, Rasmussen introduced the bill because it was brought to her by a bunch of students from the Carbonado School District. You know, one of those class civics projects.

Do these kids know what they've unwittingly walked into?

And even if it is a class project, as Desi would say, "Marilyn, you got some splainin' to do!"

I'll follow up tomorrow.

All eyes are on the caucuses right now in Washington, but our primaries -- a $10 million beauty pageant or an important event, depending on who you ask -- are right around the corner, Feb. 19.

Check this out, from the Chicago Sun-Times: Poll workers told about 20 voters that a pen had "invisible ink" and that their votes would be counted.

It didn't. They weren't. One voter said it sounded stupid enough to be true.

Just a warning for those who do vote on Feb. 19.

The League of Education Voters sent out an update on how its agenda is faring in this session of the Legislature.

Senate Bill 6879 is one of its priorities. That bill sets a final date of Dec. 1 for the Basic Education Finance Task Force to recommend to the Legislature a new finance system for Kindergarten through 12th Grade for Washington’s public schools based on a new definition of basic education.

The League noted the bill was approved yesterday by the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education. SB 6879 specifically says that report has to talk about fixing the salary grid for school districts so the poorer school districts can catch up with the richer districts in terms of salaries.

One of the reports is due in September. But isn't it curious the date for the final report is a month after the Nov. 4 general election. Some think the new finance plan is a state income tax. In any case, the plan will be higher taxes of some sort, especially if the "new" definition of basic education is broader than it is now. And it probably will be.

More details on Michelle Obama's visit:

Chicago, IL -- On Friday, February 8, 2008, Michelle Obama will host a "Stand for Change" Rally in Spokane, Washington.
Event Details:
Friday, February 8, 2008
RALLY WITH MICHELLE OBAMA
Fox Theater, 1001 W. Sprague St., Spokane. Doors open at 3 p.m.

This event is free and open to the public. However, an RSVP is strongly encouraged. To RSVP please visit http://wa.barackobama.com/spokane or call (509) 570-4800.

From the Clinton campaign:

It's going to be a rally and a town hall meeting with a health care theme, and she will be taking questions, so invite any health care professionals you know.  But most importantly, invite EVERYONE you know - every single person you can.  The details of this event were finalized late, so we have to make sure everyone knows about this who might want to come!

The event is at University of Puget Sound at 10 a.m., but they suggest you get there early to make sure you can get in.

 

Here's a story I've written for Friday's newspaper. I'm playing telephone tag with Rep. Pat Lantz. When we catch up with each other, I'll finish it.

Here's what I got so far:

Washington won’t become the 40th state to authorize police checkpoints as a way to catch drunk drivers – at least, not this year.

A bill that would have let law officers set up sobriety checkpoints after getting a broad search warrant from a judge is dying quietly in the House Judiciary Committee without ever coming up for a vote.

Rep. Pat Lantz, D-Gig Harbor, committee chairwoman and prime sponsor of HB 2771, apparently decided not to put her members on the spot. Today is the deadline for policy committees to pass whatever bills they hope to get through the Legislature this session.

“Nobody wanted to take that vote,” said Rep. Steve Kirby, D-Tacoma, a Judiciary committee member. “Because you could make it look as if we were all heartless drunks instead of civil libertarians.

“My thinking is this: If we allow the police to stop people on the street or enter their homes any time they want to, I promise you crime would plummet. We’d live in a police state, but crime would plummet. My question is whether we want to live like that.”

The apparent death of the measure also is a setback for Gov. Chris Gregoire, who had asked the Legislature to approve sobriety checkpoints to crack down on drunk drivers before they kill someone else or themselves.

=> Read more!

We published a story by The Olympian today about the likely demise of the bill that requires local governments to record executive sessions.

Brad Shannon reports on his blog that Majority Leader Lynn Kessler is attempting to revive the measure. An extra committee meeting has been scheduled for 6 p.m. tonight to consider it.

See what Kessler has to say in Shannon's blog post.

I'm hearing that Hillary Clinton will appear at University of Puget Sound tomorrow. I haven't gotten word from the actual campaign, so I'll let you know if this changes ... again.

This ends the 24 hours of scrambling to find a spot to hold 400+ people in Tacoma. UPS was considered first, then the convention center, then UWT ... and back to UPS.

More details as they come.

Surprise! Republican front-runner John McCain will visit Seattle tomorrow for a fundraiser, meet-and-greet and press conference.

Details will come in the next few hours, but here's what I know so far (and this will probably change):
4:30 - McCain arrives at Boeing
5:30 - Fundraiser at the Westin in Seattle
6:15 - Meet-and-greet

And don't worry, I wasn't paid to write this. (Well, at least not by anyone but my employer.)

Senate Bill 6546 is scheduled for a vote this afternoon in the Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee.

That's the one that would abolish the category of "registered counselor" in 2010 and replace it with "certified counselor." The former can be gotten by paying $40 a year to the state Department of Health and taking a 4-hour class on AIDS.

That latter would require a 4-year degree.

There are 18,000 registered counselors in the Washington, and some feel they are not very well regulated.

Tacoma lobbyist Randy Lewis just told me that the House Transportation Committee on Wednesday passed House Bill 3158. That's the one that would let Tacoma use part of the state's 6.5 percent sales tax collected in the city to rehabilitate the Murray Morgan Bridge on East 11th Street.

The bill went to the House Rules Committee, where it awaits a vote by the full House.

Here's a link to a previous post on this.

The Hillary Clinton campaign pulled the plug on its plan to use the Tacoma Convention Center for tomorrow’s Tacoma visit, and was scrambling this morning to find a new location.

That’s the word from Ron Geier, owner of Tacoma-based Northwest Staging and Sound. According to Geier, the dust-up centers around union issues.

Clinton’s campaign hired Geier’s company to do the lighting, sound, piping and drapes for Clinton’s visit. It was a logical choice for a couple of reasons: His company has lots of experience doing political jobs. It’s worked on events for Barack Obama, and John Edwards, and Gov. Chris Gregoire’s town hall meetings.

Perhaps just as important, his shop is part of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. The union has endorsed Clinton.

“They’re certainly not going to use non-union stage employees,” Geier said.

But that’s what the staff at the convention center wanted them to do, Geier said.

Convention center officials told Clinton’s campaign workers that the convention center had in-house audio visual people who could do the work that Geier’s company was planning to do, and the the in-house people were unionized.

When Geier heard this, he told the Clinton campaign that the convention center actually contracts with a Seattle company, The AV Factory, and that the company is non-union. The Clinton people went back to the convention center, and that’s when the talks went south.

Geier said he met with convention center officials and told them that Clinton’s campaign wanted his company to work the event. A convention center official replied, “That’s not going to happen,” Geier said.

So the Clinton campaign started looking — quickly — to find a new venue.

Word is they may end up at the Longshoreman’s Hall at the University of Washington Tacoma.

I’ve got calls in to the convention center general manager and a Clinton campaign worker to hear what they have to say.

UPDATE:

David Bobo, general manager of the convention center, said his staff worked late into the night Wednesday trying to put together the Friday morning event before learning that Clinton's campaign wanted everyone working on the event to be union.

Many of the convention center workers are unionized, Bobo said, but he told the Clinton campaign that some contractors are not, including the AV Factory employees.

Given more time, it would have been possible to let Geier's company or another company come into the building and do the work. But the exhibition hall is an "acoustical nightmare" and the AV Factory has the most experience with that particular space, Bobo said.

"We had to make sure it was right for a visit from a presidential candidate," he said.

Bobo said Geier's company does great work, and he's got no problem with them. But given the time constraints and all the variables, he needed the AV Factory to do the sound on this one.

Or not, as it turned out.

We occasionally get fan mail like the message below. It never ceases to amaze me that some folks out there think we get up every morning and wonder how we can help or damage a candidate or party.

Have you guys not found out yet when and where Bill Clinton will be Friday, the 8th of February? A real news source online said at UPS Fieldhouse at 8am. Why doesn't the "News" Tribune print that for their news? Somebody paying you not to print it?

The one thing I appreciate about that message is the sender signed her name (I'll leave her last name out because I'm not looking to embarrass anyone). Here's the thing: At this stage of the campaign, schedules are very, very fluid. Here's my response to Jennifer:

Ease up on the conspiracy theory, will ya? We reported yesterday that Bill Clinton was coming to UPS tomorrow morning. Then that venue fell apart for some reason. Plus, the campaign switched gears and said Hillary would come, instead of Bill. Except they didn’t know where she’ll be. The campaign shifted attention to the city convention center. We waited for confirmation that would work out. It didn’t. Last night, the campaign was talking to the UW Tacoma. Again, we’re waiting for confirmation so that we don’t write three separate stories about venues, and thus confuse all of our readers.

We’ve been told to expect an announcement this morning. When we have confirmation, we’ll send out a breaking news e-mail and post it on our Web site. We’re also staffing Hillary’s rally in Seattle tonight, and Obama’s tomorrow.

No conspiracies here. Just lots of confusion as campaigns scramble to schedule appearances.

And yes, gentle readers, we absolutely would cover a visit by McCain, Huckabee or Romney (oops, scratch him) if one of the main GOP candidates came here. But so far, no dice.

I have to confirm it with state Rep. Pat Lantz, D-Gig Harbor, who sponsored House Bill 2771. But that's the word I'm getting from folks who are plugged into that issue.

Source tells me it won't even come up for a vote in Lantz's House Judiciary Committee because members don't won't to be put on the spot with by having to vote yes or no.

More on this later.

The state attorney general’s race got off to a nasty start Wednesday. Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg announced his candidacy with an attack on incumbent Rob McKenna, and the attorney general responded with his own accusations.
Today, McKenna picks up where he left off, with a point-by-point response to what he calls Ladenburg’s “error-filled press release.” To read Ladenburg’s release, click here. To read McKenna’s response, see below.

=> Read more!

The Associated Press moved a story on the wire that said about one-third of the absentee ballots submitted so far in Kitsap County won't be counted. That's because the voters didn't check the party affiliation box.

I sent the story to Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy and asked how things look so far.

Pretty good, she says. The county has distributed 282,766 absentee ballots. Of those, about 30,000 have been already been filled out and mailed back.

Of those 30,000, only about 600 did not check the party box.

Those folks will get a second chance. McCarthy says the county will send a letter to voters who don't check the box and give them a chance to make their vote valid.

If they don't, those votes will be disqualified.

Barack Obama's campaign just announced he'll appear at Seattle's KeyArena Friday at 11 a.m.

According to the campaign, the event is free, but RSVP is encouraged. Visit http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/seattle. Leave your bags & banners at home: Neither will be allowed.

In other news, I'll go to Seattle's Pier 30 Thursday night at 8 p.m. for a Hillary Clinton rally. That one's free, too.

My sources say Clinton is still searching for a place to rally in Tacoma after University of Puget Sound and the city's convention center fell through. UWT may be the next target... we'll soon find out.

Which brings me to this: After today, I've certainly learned a bit more about how these events get scheduled. From the view in my cubicle, it went something like:

1. Candidate eyes delegates. mmm. Delicious.

2. Candidate's people contact more people, including state party people, state campaign people and the nuts-and-bolts people.

3. Information, rumors and wild speculation filter from there to county party people, local campaign people and, yes, even press people. Candidates, in some far off place, count endorsements.

4. For several hours while the nuts-and-bolts people work on the details, all the other people exchange bits of information they've heard about what might happen. Candidates eye delicious delegates.

5. Press people go on deadline. Party people get busy generating press releases about opponents' candidates to send to press people, and the nuts-and-bolts people continue to work.

6. Press people go home and wait to be notified where to show up and when.

To be continued...

It has been expected for several months but King County elections made it official today – it won't be ready to switch to all vote by mail in time for this year's elections.

Equipment needed to put the system into place has not yet been certified by federal officials. The delay in certification means the county will not have a chance to test the system this spring on smaller elections.

“The Elections Division, council and the executive have all worked tirelessly to achieve vote by mail in 2008, but the prolonged federal certification process has exhausted all contingency time,” said King County Executive Ron Sims in a press release. “Moving forward with vote by mail in 2008, would jeopardize our ability to do a thorough security review of the equipment."

As of now, only King and Pierce counties will use both vote by mail and polling places this fall. That could change - at least for Pierce - if legislation pending in Olympia should pass. I take a look at that bill in my column Thursday.

That's what consultants concluded after the Washington Citizen Salary Commission asked them to look into the issue.

Most Washington legislators get paid $41,280 a year. That will rise to $42,106 on Sept. 1. However, the Senate Majority Leader and House Speaker get an extra $8,000 a year, and the minority leaders in the House and Senate get $4,000 more than your typical legislator.

After interviewing a bunch of lawmakers (anonymously, of course) the consultants concluded that legislators who preside over committees don't qualify for the stipends that leadership folks get.

In addition to salaries, legislators receive $100 per diem for every day the Legislature is in session -- 105 days in odd-numbered year, 60 in even-numbered years -- plus several more days a year for some committee meetings.

Add that to "quarterlies" and the average legislator can get more than $50,000 a year. Quarterlies are payments made every three months to reimburse lawmakers for job-related expenses. It's $8,000 a year for those without district offices; $8,200 for those who do have offices in their districts.

Here's what the consultants said:

CONCLUSION: A few of the interviewees expressed strong opinion that stipends are deserved by several positions such as committee chairs because of the additional time and effort required of incumbents in such positions. All of these proponents described the many meetings which they are expected to attend and the ad hoc conferences they attend to gather information regarding bills proceeding through their respective committees. Again, the expenditure of time was a major concern of the legislators.

The consultant gave careful consideration to these opinions, particularly with regard to objective job evaluation of the efforts of legislators in carrying out the work of committee chairs.

A clear preponderance of opinion from the interviewees favors not granting stipends to positions other than those that presently receive stipends.

Based on objective application of the management criteria and standards contained in the evaluation instrument to the legislative positions studied in this project, the consultant concludes that these positions do not qualify for leadership stipends.

Here's the whole report.

Another clue in the ongoing spat between Secretary of State Sam Reed and Washington State Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz over whether the state-run primaries (Feb. 19) will attract any national attention, or if the focus will be on party-run caucuses (Feb. 9), where the (Democratic) delegates (and half of the Republican delegates) are actually apportioned:

"Part of it is, it's all about delegates. Part of it is, this is such a compressed process. Twenty-two states voted yesterday and there are a lot of others between now and 19th that will command attention. It'll be very, very difficult for any Democratic candidate to get back to this state in the next 10 days."

That's from Congressman Adam Smith, who has endorsed Barack Obama. The "next 10 days" he's referring to are not really the next 10 days, but rather the 10 days between Saturday's caucuses and the Feb. 19 primaries.

Pelz scores.

I'm on a conference call with Congressman Adam Smith and others right now and he's just announced that the largest union in Washington - Service Employees International Union - is endorsing Barack Obama.

"We believe and see that he has created a movement in this country and is awakening the sleeping giant of the electorate in this country," said Diane Sosne, president of SEIU 1199 NW.

"We know that we need a champion to reform our healthcare system," she said.

That's what Lt. Gov. Brad Owen tells us in a news release.

Stanley Love, one of the seven astronauts, got his graduate degrees in astronomy from the University of Washington.

I wonder if Owen is still trying to get that space port built in Moses Lake.

Lt. Gov. Owen conveys best wishes for space
shuttle launch with UW grad on crew

OLYMPIA - With word that NASA has cleared the space shuttle Atlantis for liftoff at 11:45 a.m. Thursday, Lt. Gov. Brad Owen is extending his best wishes for a safe and successful mission – especially since there is a Washington state connection to the launch.

Northwest native Stanley Love, who received his master’s and doctorate degrees in astronomy from the University of Washington while residing in the state for six years, will be among the seven-person crew aboard the Atlantis.

=> Read more!

The House Transportation Committee will be holding a hearing on that proposal at 3:30 this afternoon. House Bill 3158 is sponsored by Reps. Dennis Flannigan, D-Tacoma, Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, Dawn Morrell, D-Puyallup and Zach Hudgins, D-Tukwila.

I had to correct an earlier post because I initially thought the City Council would be able to raise the sales tax to 9 percent from the current 8.8 percent in Tacoma. Then I ran into the city's lobbyist, who explained the 0.2 percent sales tax for the bridge would come out of the state's share of sales taxes collected inside the Tacoma city limits.

That means Tacoma would keep 0.2 percent of the state's 6.5 percent sales tax.

Proceeds would go toward replacing the or rehabilitating the Murray Morgan Bridge, which was closed last year by the state because it's still falling apart. The city needs somewhere between $77 million and $135 million for the project.

The state set aside $26.5 million for bridge demolition, but several years ago said Tacoma could use that money to preserve the bridge instead. I looked up the story I wrote at the time and found an interesting quote from Tacoma lobbyist Randy Lewis.

"We expect that remaining money will be privately raised and that there will be federal contributions," Lewis said Feb. 26, 2004.

Apparently, the city now expects the state to pay for pretty much the whole project.

A source has just told me that Bill Clinton will speak 9 a.m. Friday (not Thursday, as originally posted) at the Fieldhouse at University of Puget Sound.

More details as they come.

Update:The AP is reporting that "Barack Obama campaign says the Democratic presidential candidate will campaign Friday in Seattle, and his wife, Michelle Obama, will campaign for him Friday in Spokane."

Tacoma City Councilman Rick Talbert kicked off a lively discussion Tuesday about state Attorney General Rob McKenna and state Auditor Brian Sonntag's push to require recording of executive sessions.

Talbert, who was lobbied on the subject former City Councilman Kevin Phelps, floated the idea of a city resolution backing Sonntag's bill in the state Legislature. Pierce County just passed one. (Several council members said that Phelps, who is now working for Sonntag, had lobbied them on the subject.)

Talbert said he didn't initially see the need for the bill, but after recent flaps over executive session meetings of the Tacoma School District and Puyallup City Council, he's changed his mind.

Besides, "I think it's only a matter of time until we get there," Talbert said. "I'd rather be out front." He added, "I've got nothing to hide."

But the idea wasn't exactly embraced by the rest of the council. Council members Connie Ladenburg, Julie Anderson, and Mike Lonergan all expressed reservations.

=> Read more!

Bruce Dammeier, a veteran Puyallup School Board member, announced last month he is running for the Legislature. Incumbent state Rep. Joyce McDonald, R-Puyallup, going after a Pierce County Council seat, creating a opening in the 25th Legislative District.

Here's his announcement:

=> Read more!

Congressman Norm Dicks, D-Big Dawg, is set to receive an award today for his commitment to the environment.

Here's the press release.

DICKS TO RECEIVE ANSEL ADAMS AWARD
FOR COMMITMENT TO PRESERVING NATION'S LANDS

WASHINGTON, February 5, 2008—Representative Norm Dicks (D-WA) will receive the Ansel Adams Award from The Wilderness Society Wednesday for his leadership in national conservation funding programs.

"Representative Dicks has worked tirelessly for over 30 years to preserve our natural resources,” said The Wilderness Society President William H. Meadows. "As the very active and engaged chair of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, he has championed important new initiatives on watershed restoration and climate change to meet the environmental challenges of the 21st century.” One of Representative Dicks' notable recent achievements was the creation of a Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Program that will provide nearly $40 million this year to improve water quality, fish habitat and recreational access.

=> Read more!

This press release just in from Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg:

It’s Official: John Ladenburg to run for State Attorney General
Pierce County Executive will bring experience as elected prosecutor to an office in need of less partisan politics, more citizen protection

TACOMA—Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg today officially announced that he will seek the office of State Attorney General. Ladenburg, a Democrat, served as Pierce County Prosecutor for three terms prior to his tenure as Executive, experience he says is needed in the Attorney General’s Office.

“As prosecutor I helped write the state’s first sex predator monitoring laws and worked on tough death penalty cases,” said Ladenburg. “As Executive I managed a balanced budget focused on providing basic services to Pierce County taxpayers. These are skills we need in the AG’s office.”

Ladenburg believes his experience stands in sharp contrast to Republican incumbent Rob McKenna.

“Four years ago voters rolled the dice on a partisan, ambitious politician who had never tried a case,” said Ladenburg. “The result is an office that issues press releases and public service announcements, but hasn’t made progress on basic consumer protection and public safety issues.”

=> Read more!

I've just filed my story for tomorrow's paper on what today's Super Tuesday results mean for Washington.

The short answer: Good stuff. Candidate visits. Record turnouts.

But don't get distracted: With three days until the caucuses, when the majority of our delegates will be determined, well ... many voters have yet to figure out how these caucuses work.

I went to a Republican caucus training Monday night. After Pierce County Chairman Deryl McCarty had explained caucusing for the better part of an hour, an older gentleman in the front row raised his hand.

"Is this something the Legislature came up with?"

Indeed, the finer points of delegate apportionment are so numerous and so very, very fine that it does seem like something only a committee of lawmakers could dream up.

No, McCarty said: It's all done by the party.

(And, since I was needled a dozen or so times during that hour for being part of the evil liberal media, I will make clear: No one's saying these voters weren't sharp. Or that McCarty isn't a capable orator. Ahem.)

Democrats, who have held their share of training (and I'll go to one tomorrow), help their members with a handy instructional video.

When I think "instructional video," I think "three minutes." Not so. It's 17 minutes long. With a few commercials, that's a sitcom.

So ... anything you don't understand about the caucuses that a 17 minute video can't answer? Are you an expert? Are you excited? Any fond caucus memories? Humor me.

Rumor has it, Bill Clinton will visit Washington on Thursday to stump for his wife. That's all I know for now, but we'll keep you posted.

This just in from the Obama campaign:

On Friday, February 8, 2008, Senator Barack Obama will host an event in Seattle, Washington. The event will be free and open to the public.

More details to follow.

Event Details:
Friday, February 8, 2008
Event in Seattle, Washington
Time and Location TBA

Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy will kick offer her campaign for county executive with a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Joeseppi’s Italian Ristorante, 2207 N. Pearl St., Tacoma. McCarthy announced her candidacy in December.

I talked to Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy earlier this afternoon. She said the office has been flooded with calls about the upcoming caucuses and primaries. She said it's not a bad problem to have: "Having people actually excited and engaged enough is a good thing. I always remind my staff," she said.

What follows is the Q&A she sent me:

Q: When is Washington’s Presidential Preference Primary?
A:February 19, 2008

Q: Why do I have to sign a party oath?
A: State law requires that in order for your ballot to count in this election, you must check the box for the party of your choice and sign the oath.

Q: Who wrote these party oaths?
A: The major parties wrote the oaths that were required to be printed on the return envelopes and in the poll books.

They are:
Republican: I declare that I am a member of the Republican party and I have not participated and will not participate in the 2008 precinct caucus or convention system of any other party.

Democrat: I declare that I consider myself to be a DEMOCRAT and I will not participate in the nomination process of any other political party for the 2008 Presidential election.

Q: Do I have to be a “card carrying” member of the party to sign the party oath?

=> Read more!

I'll miss state Sen. Bob McCaslin, if he ever goes away and gives me a chance to start missing him.

The Spokane Valley Republican has to be the funniest legislator in Washington. He certainly has kept me entertained the past 18 years. And he did again today.

The Senate Judiciary Committee was holding a hearing on Senate Bill 6680, which would let anyone 75 or older be exempt from serving on a jury. Marti Maxwell, Thurston County Superior Court administrator, was testifying that 75 isn't as old as it used to be, and how she likes having diversity in the jury pool, etc. Well, sorta.

"75 is the new 60," she said.

McCaslin immediately turned to the senator next to him and exclaim, "I'm only 60!"

(For the record, McCaslin is 81 or 82.)

Maxwell didn't do a bad job in the humor department, either. Asked if failing to report for jury duty is a crime, she said, "Technically, it's a misdemeanor. But I have not arrested anyone. I don't think it's a good idea to arrest voters."

The House Finance Committee this morning held a hearing on a bill that would extend the same tax exemption now enjoyed by wind and solar power operations to biomass plants.

House Bill 3116, sponsored by House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, also would extend the sales tax exemption to 2014. Otherwise, it expires in 2009.

Don Johnson, vice president and general manager of Tacoma Simpson Kraft for about seven more weeks, said the bill puts the co-generation plant they've got in the works on Tacoma Tideflats on equal footing with the solar- and wind-powered generating machinery that also use renewable energy sources.

The Tacoma plant, which will cost in the $90 million to $100 million range and will produce 43.5 megawatts of electricity each year, should be operational by August 2009, Johnson said.

It will burn beauty bark, stumps from the woods, sawdust, ground-up houses and shavings -- about 230,000 tons a year, Johnson said.

All the machinery and equipment to turn those products into electricity would be exempt from the sales tax.

Johnson, by the way, is leaving Simpson after 37 years. His last day is March 28. He got elected to the Port of Tacoma commission.

The AP is reporting that West Virginia's 18 delegates are going to Mike Huckabee.

For the winner-take-all state, it's not so much a win for Huckabee as it's a defeat for Mitt Romney.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who poses the biggest threat nationally to front-runner (Sen. John) McCain, had entered the event with the largest pledged bloc and attracted the largest vote – 41 percent – on the first ballot. Huckabee captured 33 percent on the first tally; McCain, 15 percent and Texas congressman Ron Paul, 10 percent.

For the second count, McCain's supporters voted for Huckabee to prevent Romney -- McCain's greatest competition -- from getting the votes.

We'll keep you posted throughout the day with results from Super Tuesday - and what it might mean for Washington.

One of our readers posed the rhetorical question in a phone call to me after he tried to contest a $49 ticket for failing to pay the Narrows Bridge toll. He lost.

If the new bridge were named after the late Bob Oke, the state senator who campaign for its construction, would the name of the transponder program also be changed?

In a few hours, I'll be at the the Pierce County Republican Party's headquarters, listening in on a caucus training. It's for a story that is scheduled to run in Thursday's paper.

Here's the catch: I want to go to a similar event for Democrats. Unfortunately, I didn't go to any this weekend, so I'm hoping one of you knows of something going on in Pierce County in the next couple of days.

Let me know!

With the Democratic caucuses just around the corner, Clinton and Obama's campaigns have sent out the official list of which local lawmakers have endorsed them.

Noticeably missing from the list is Speaker of the House Frank Chopp, D-Seattle. And the governor, of course.

Correction: In an earlier count, I left several current lawmakers in Clinton's camp on the former list. Apologies.

Here's the score.
Obama:
Lisa Brown (D-Spokane), Senate Majority Leader
Ed Murray (D-Seattle), Senate Democratic Caucus Vice-Chair
Mary Margaret Haugen (D-Camano Island)
Ken Jacobsen (D-Seattle)
Craig Pridemore (D-Vancouver)
Derek Kilmer (D-Gig Harbor)
Rosa Franklin (D-Tacoma)
Chris Marr (D-Spokane)
Sen. Tim Sheldon (D-Potlatch)
Sen. Claudia Kauffman (D-Kent)
Sen. Adam Kline (D-Seattle)
Sen. Eric Oemig (D-Kirkland)
Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe (D-Seattle)
Sen. Brian Hatfield (D-Raymond)
Rep. Dave Upthegrove (D-southern King County)
Rep. Eric Pettigrew (D-Seattle)
Rep. Brendan Williams (D-Olympia)
Rep. Larry Springer (D-Kirkland/Redmond)
Rep. Deb Eddy (D-Bellevue)
Rep. Bob Hasegawa (D-Seattle)
Rep. Chris Hurst (D-King County)
Rep. Dave Quall (D-Mt. Vernon/Bellingham)
Rep. John McCoy (D-Everett)
Rep. Jamie Pedersen (D-Seattle)
Rep. Fred Jarrett (D-Bellevue)
Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson (D-Seattle)
Rep. Geoff Simpson (D-King County)
Rep. Pat Lantz (D-Bremerton)
Rep. Marilyn Chase (D-Shoreline)

And Clinton:
Sen. Brian Weinstein, (D-Mercer Island)
Rep. Sherry Appleton, (D-Kitsap County)
Rep. Judy Clibborn, (D-Mercer Island)
Sen. Tracey Eide, (D-Federal Way)
Sen. Steve Hobbs, (D-Lake Stevens)
Sen. Rodney Tom, (D-Bellevue)
Rep. Sam Hunt, (D-Olympia)
Sen. Karen Keis