This story moved after our deadline for the print edition of The News Tribune, but The Associated Press was kind enough to let me post the story here.

Washington Legislature approves measure to bypass Electoral College

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) _ Washington could enter a compact with other states to cast its 11 presidential electoral votes for the national popular vote winner, under a measure approved by the Legislature.

The House passed the bill on a 52-42 vote Wednesday night. It now goes to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who has expressed support for the measure.

The compact has been ratified in Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland and New Jersey and is moving ahead in several other states. It wouldn't take effect until enough states sign on to account for 270 electoral votes -- the number it takes to win the White House.

The loser of the popular vote has won the Electoral College and become president four times, most recently in 2000, when George W. Bush defeated Al Gore.

We've had views of President Barack Obama's history-making inauguration from Washington, D.C. and Washington state. Pacific Lutheran University student Tricia Johnson sent in this account from Australia, where she is studying now.

People from all over the world gathered together on a scorching Sydney afternoon to witness the United States 44th President, Barack Obama’s inauguration and celebrate his historic move to The White House. The event, held at the Manning Bar on the University of Sydney’s campus, was put on by the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. I was lucky enough to attend this “standing room only” event along with four other students and a professor, all currently studying abroad in Australia from Pacific Lutheran University.

The overwhelming amount of concern this group of people displayed toward the United States current economic status as well as Obama’s move to The White House was apparent even though I was in a foreign country. This tremendous amount of support made me wonder why Australians seem so interested in American politics and its current economic standing, while some Americans cannot even manage to find Australia on a map.

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U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks bundled up and ventured out Tuesday to watch the inauguration of Barack Obama from the steps of the Capitol. But the staff took advantage of the Belfair Democrat's choice Rayburn House Office Building assignment and watched from the windows.

And apparently so did a lot of others who realized that it was better to be up close and warm than way in the back and freezing.

"We had many people in town who didn’t get tickets, so we told them we have a great view of the show – three large windows facing the Capitol," wrote Dicks' top aide George Behan.

The staff served coffee and food and offered binoculars and TVs – sort of like a luxury suite at the ballpark.

"As it turned out, we had some constituents who called us from cell phones while they were in lines that obviously were not moving," Behan wrote. "We told them to come on in and they were much better off than colleagues who were in a line while Barack was taking the oath."

Behan guesses that 150 people passed through the office during the day.

Dicks was near the aisle, next to U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. Both were close enough to shake Obama's hand, as this photo – taken by Michael Meehan – shows.

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From education reporter Kris Sherman

Memories are still coming in from Tacomans who witnessed Barack Obama's inauguration Tuesday.

Turns out not all of those Mason Middle School kids in D.C. For the event lasted until the bitter-cold end. But they're still wrapping themselves in the warm memories.

I got this missive and photo in my inbox today from one of the parent-chaperons.

The photo below shows (l to r) Kassidi Reaugh, Allison Hakanson, Grace Groneck, Megan Gezelius at the Nurses Memorial with one of the stars and decorated evergreen trees they left behind to memorialize their visit.

But don't think they were littering. All the trinkets they left at various memorials get picked up and archived, social studies teacher and tour leader Marilyn O'Malley-Hicks said.

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Tacoma attorney Lara Herrmann e-mailed Peter Callaghan with some photos of her and her sister, Katie Herrmann, enjoying the festivities. (Laura is in the black cap).

Those are some impressive seats. But even more impressive is who was sitting nearby.

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Puyallup resident Angie Tjoelker of and her roommate Jessica got caught in a huge crush of people trying to leave the National Mall today, and Tjoelker was nearly sick by the time she made it back to Jessica's aunt's house.

People were crammed inside a mall waiting to board D.C.'s Metro at the L'Enfant Plaza stop, and many were overheating, Tjoelker reported this evening. People who had been standing outside in the cold for hours were suddenly shedding layers of clothing.

"It was seriously ridiculous," Tjoelker said. "People were fainting ... I'm on the verge of getting sick right now."

Tjoelker and her roommate eventually bailed out a side exit and made their way to another Metro stop.

Despite the ordeal, Tjoelker is happy she made the trip to Washington, D.C.

She and her roommate watched from a point on the National Mall near the Washington Monument. A nearby Jumbotron provided a view of the action. Her roommate wasn't tall enough to see it well, but she improvised by holding up her cell phone and watching the Jumbotron through the phone's camera.

"The most exciting part was just how excited everyone was throughout the day," she said. "Everybody was just in a great mood the whole day. There was an electricity in the air."

Tjoelker is heading home to Puyallup tomorrow. She's optimistic about the future, but realistic about quickly President Obama will be able to change things.

"It's not going to get done tomorrow," she said.

Yusuf Word, president of University of Puget Sound’s student association, rose when many college students are normally hitting the hay in order to attend Obama’s speech in D.C.

“We left the house at 4 a.m. and were downtown around 4:30,” said the 22-year-old senior, who is majoring in communications studies. "They let us in at 8 a.m. and we were there until about 1.”

Word said he was struck by the diversity of the crowd, in terms of both race and age.

“It was great feeling all that positive energy,” he said.

It was Obama who inspired Word to run for student government and Word
is also the first African American elected to his post.

While he was able to see Obama on a big screen nearby, people in his part of the throng had to huddle around a portable radio someone had brought.

“People ask, ‘Is he really going to be able to bring people together?’ “ Word said. “I think it’s obvious today, when you see all those people waiting 7-8 hours just to see him for a second.”

Right after Barack Obama was sworn in as president, Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma turned around and exchanged a high-five with none other than Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher.

Baarsma, who was seated near Smith in the "orange section" -- directly in front of the podium but a fair ways back -- said the high moment from today's inaugural ceremony was the swearing in, though he said Obama's speech also was significant because it marked the end of the Reagan-Bush era.

It means, Baarsma said, that "the government is no longer your enemy," and that the Constitution's safeguards are protected.

"It struck a chord of optimism," Baarsma said. "We're in a difficult situation, but we can prevail like the pioneers prevailed. It was exciting."

Baarsma was seated in front of Smith, and beside George Galland, a senior partner in the Chicago law firm where Obama once worked. Baarsma struck up a conversation Galland and discovered that Galland's wife is friends with someone who served on the board of trustees of the University of Puget Sound, where Baarsma was a professor.

UPDATE: Correction just after the jump to note that it was not Galland's son who was a former student, but the son of a friend who was a university trustee.

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Blogger/copy editor Kelly Davenport shared a scene from this morning:

At Satellite Coffee in Tacoma's Stadium District, customers gathered around a laptop on the counter streaming a live video feed from CNN.com. From desktop speakers that usually blast Motown and soul hits boomed the voice of the new president giving his inaugural address.

Barista Magdalena Ramos timed her espresso shots – punctuated by the loud crunch of the coffee grinder and the blast of the steam wand – to lulls in the broadcast so as not to interrupt. On screen, Obama thanked President George W. Bush for his service, and the D.C. audience applauded – though it seemed subdued.

"Golf clap! Golf clap!" joked shop co-owner Pat Brown.

More familiar faces in the crowd from Les Blumenthal in D.C.

WASHINGTON – There were more than just politicians at the inauguration.

Take Les Purce, president of The Evergreen State College. The great-great grandson of a Virginia slave, Purce was 40 yards away when Barack Obama was sworn in.

"It was electric," Purce said. "I could not help but think about my great great-grandfather and his family. All these people had such great hope. We made a great leap today. I'm searching for words."

Others also struggled to put it in perspective.

"For me it was overwhelming," said Leslie Braxton, a senior pastor at a Renton church who grew up in Tacoma's Hilltop neighborhood and as a 9-year-old was bused to a virtually all-white school five miles from his home. "I got a little teary eyed."

Braxton said his grandfather always said electing an African-American president would never happen, but his grandmother would scold him and tell him it was up to God.

"Things change," Braxton said. "It may be slow, but it is happening."

Tacoma resident Kurt Heineman is in D.C. on business and got a taste of the event. Here is his account and photos.

I awoke this morning at 4:15 am to catch the metro as early in order to get the closest to the Capitol building as I possibly could without having an inauguration ticket. Although many people, including myself, were very tired, you could feel the energy and excitement in the air.

Many of us brought cardboard or newspapers to sit and lay on while we waited for the event to take place. In this time, I met people from Illinois, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Dakota, and various other states. The conversations I had with the people I met exemplified exactly what Barack Obama has and will continue to do for this great country, which is to bring together people from all racial, religious, and geographical backgrounds and motivate each citizen to be an active participant in renewing the greatness of the United States of America.

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Kindergartners and first-graders at Tacoma's Wainwright Elementary sat quietly this morning, watching Barack Obama take the oath of office as President of the United States.

Little girls, some with corn rows in their hair, others with blond pony tails, sat side by side. There were boys with the frizzy hair that marked their heritage as African American, others with the barber-shop style short brush cuts typical of Caucasian boys. Children with black faces, white faces, Asian features watched together as Obama told America, "We are shaped by every language and culture..."

They soaked in the moment as he spoke of "tolerance and curiosity."
They seemed the children of whom the new president spoke as he said, "We carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

Some 60 students from Darlene Wiggins' and Ann Balerud's first-grade classes and Jennifer Guild and Amy Maarsingh's kindergartens watched the swearing-in and speeches amazingly fidget-free.

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