It's true, the Democratic Party has a slate of candidate that it wants you to vote for in the Aug. 19 primary election. Maybe the party should stick to partison (I mean, partisan) offices, because it runs into trouble when it comes to nonpartisan offices such as SuperintenDANT of Public Instruction.

(Or was it Superintendent of PUBIC Instruction?)

(Is it worse when the spelling error is for an education job?)

See for yourself. Here's the link to the site that tells you how to vote, although I suspect they will change it right after reading this...

UPDATE: Note to self: Never let the fear of making exactly the same mistake keep you from making fun of someone who already has made that mistake.

Update No. 2: They fixed it quickly. But here's a PDF of the original.

The coalition is the group of insurance companies, doctors and medical folks that has been butting heads with trial lawyers and victims' advocates the past several years to limit payouts for pain and suffering in tort cases.

So far, they've pretty much failed at any major changes.

I wonder if that dentist vs. insurance company case has driven any sort of wedge between the docs and their insurers. Read on.

LRC issues 2008 judicial candidate recommendations

Michael J. Bond endorsed in Supreme Court race;

Judge Robin Hunt earns nod for return to Court of Appeals bench

Seattle—The Liability Reform Coalition (LRC) issued its judicial recommendations in two important higher-court races that will likely be decided in Washington’s August 19 primary election. The LRC endorsed the challenger in one Supreme Court race and an incumbent in a Court of Appeals contest.

=> Read more!

Mike Carrell is the only one in our neck of the woods who got a primary election endorsement from the Washington Retail Association. I guess you could add state Sen. Cheryl Pflug, R-Hobart, to the list, too, since she's sorta on the fringe of our circulation area.

Likewise for House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, and Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia, both in the 20th District.

Note: There's not a single Democrat on the list.

Retail Association announces candidate endorsements

The Washington Retail Association has announced endorsements for state legislative races to be decided in the August 19 primary.

=> Read more!

I finally got an explanation for the "limited endorsement" that state Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup, got from the Washington State Labor Council earlier this week.

Limited means Kastama can tell people he is endorsed by the labor council, but the council isn't going to lift a finger to do any heavy lifting for him on the campaign trail.

Kastama lost out on a full-blown endorsement because of the trades people. Apparently, they're not real happy with his "listening" abilities when it comes to their proposal for state certification for HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) workers.

So they blocked his endorsement twice, once back in May, then again when the council met Monday in Vancouver. Then the motion was changed to make it a "limited" endorsement.

Cody Arledge, lobbyist for the HVAC folks, said they relented in view of Kastama's 80 percent favorable voting record on general labor issues. But they still sent Kastama a message, twice.

Wanna earn some cash while serving your country? (Well, technically, you'd be serving your county.)

County election departments are recruiting temporary workers to staff poll sites during the Aug. 19 primary and the Nov. 4 general election. Pierce County pays $120 for the day; King pays $125.

"Any help in recruitment will be appreciated. We plan on having close to 650 workers help carry out the primary," Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy told me.

King County said last week that it still needed 700 people to finish filling nearly 4,000 poll worker positions.

”King County hasn’t yet made the transition to all-mail voting, and poll workers are still needed to help ensure that poll voters can cast their vote on Election Day,” Sherril Huff, King County elections director, said in a news release. “This will be one of the final opportunities to work at the polls, and I urge anyone interested to get involved today.”

It's a long day. The job starts around 6 a.m. and lasts until 9 or 10 p.m. But you get to talk to all of the nice people who don't vote by mail.

Here are the eligibility requirements in Pierce County: be at least 16 years old, attend three training sessions, lift 30 pounds, and bring a car (mileage is reimbursed).

Here are links to more information in Pierce and King counties.

OK, readers, sharpen your No. 2 pencils for today's pop quiz on political science.

True or False: The following is the oath of office that John McCain, Barack Obama or Ralph Nader (kidding) will take next January:

"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same: that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

That's the oath printed on page 81 of the Washington State Voters' Pamphlet. That page is dedicated to explaining the process of electing a president.

But it's the wrong oath.

Glenn Burden spotted it. Glenn is a Fircrest resident and Tacoma school teacher who helps disabled students transition from school to work. He's also my neighbor (note to other neighbors: I've got dibs on claiming Glenn as my partner the next time we play Trivial Pursuit).

Glenn wrote a letter to Secretary of State Sam Reed's office to point out the error. Reed's office wrote back to say it was an "unfortunate mistake." The office fixed the online version of the guide and promised that "more care will be taken in the future."

The oath in the voters' guide is actually the oath taken by members of Congress, the vice president, members of the president's Cabinet, federal judges and folks in civil service and the military. It's set out in Title 5 of the U.S. Code.

The presidential oath is contained in Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution:

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation: - I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Wikipedia says modern presidents have added "so help me God" at the end, though it's not required by the Constitution.

The Justice for Washington Foundation, which claims to have the only bipartisan judicial candidate rating process in the state, has released its findings.

The foundation rates candidates on both general qualifications and on what it calls their judicial philosophy. To score high with this group a candidate must practice judicial restraint, as defined by the group.

For example incumbent state Supreme Court Justice Mary Fairhurst is termed "well qualified" but has "insufficent" respect for the law and constitution, according to the foundation.

Justice Charles Johnson gets the same ratings.

The only candidate considered unqualified by the group is incumbent Court of Appeals Judge Robin Hunt.

After Filing Week in June, Rep. Tami Green was the only member of Pierce County's legislative delegation who didn't draw a challenger. Even the Steves - Kirby and Conway, in the 29th District - got challengers this time, and those guys usually get free passes.

Green's free ride in the 28th could be viewed as a bit of a surprise because that's a swing district. The district's senator, Mike Carrell, is a Republican. And Democratic freshman Rep. Troy Kelley won the district's other House seat by a little more than 3 percentage points in 2006.

Now it looks like Green, a Lakewood Democrat, will have to campaign to keep the seat. (Full disclosure: I live in this district.)

Dick Muri, the Pierce County Councilman from Steilacoom and a Republican activist, is recruiting Denise McCluskey as a write-in candidate against Green. If McCluskey registers with the county auditor as a write-in and gets at least 1 percent of the vote in the Aug. 19 primary, she advances to the November ballot as a named candidate on the ballot. In the 2006 primary (the last to be held in September before the state moved it to August), the 1 percent threshold in the three-way race for Green's seat was 192 votes.

McCluskey is a human resources manager who lives in University Place. She tried to unseat UPlace City Councilwoman Jean Brooks last year. Brooks beat her by 115 votes out of 8,201 cast.

I talked to McCluskey on Wednesday. She said she was surprised by the recruitment and is "strongly leaning toward" jumping in the race. She said she's making phone calls and checking on what kind of support she'll get.

Mail-in voting began late last week.