Washblog

I snapped this familiar-looking freaked-out inflated being in a store window after the Seattle Kossaks & Washbloggers get-together.

The event at Elyssian Fields featured our own Kos frontpager McJoan, just returned from her epic election '06 trip across the mountain west States. N will have to dish that conversation because he, Seattle Liberal and LeftyMama secreted her into a dim booth where they had her to themselves for several hours.

Belltowner and seabos were seated next to each other, believe it or not, but no blood was spilled--that I witnessed.

Pictures to come today! But I had to pop this guy onto the front page for your early-morning viewing enjoyment. How about a caption contest for him? Mine is:

"YIIIIIIIIIIIIIKKKKEESSSSS!"

Not content for the last ballot to be counted in the 2006 races, Jerry Cornfield at the Everett Herald has decided it's time to jump right into 2007. Today's story is about 3 `just re-elected' Snohomish County lawmakers who are seriously considering tossing their hats into the ring for new jobs. While it has been pretty widely known within Democratic circles that State Representatives Brian Sullivan (D-21) and John Lovick (D-44) were seriously considering races for County Council and County Sheriff respectively, the recent suggestion that State Senator Jean Berkey (D-38) is also considering a run for the County Council only adds a hint of potential conflict into the mix.

Rick Perlstein of The American Prospect just posted Look Back in Anger detailing two strategies used this last election cycle: robo-calling and phone jamming.

Eridani's post Something to do about nasty robocalls got me thinking about the problem. I'm curious if there are technical tools and approaches we could use. Kind of like having spam filters for our email.

More...

The Institute for Washington's Future
and
Community to Community Development

Invite you to attend a
Community Forum on Immigration
To discuss the impacts of our broken immigration system in Snohomish County

Thursday, November 16

Hosted by The Tulalip Tribes

at

Quilceda Village Conference Center, Suite D
8825 34th Ave., Tulalip, Washington 98271

From Ashcroft to Gonzales. From Colin to Condi. From Rumsfeld to Gates? Anybody notice a pattern here?

 While Donald Rumsfeld has been arguably the most disastrous thing to happen to the Department of Defense in modern history, the prospect of replacing him with someone who, through his tenure with the CIA during the Reagan/(HW)Bush  years, may have actually been an active player in creating the circumstance we find ourselves in today does not strike me as an appealing alternative.

I'm at the Sheraton at the Democratic Party/Cantwell election night party, sitting at the bloggers/press table with Andrew of NPI and many assorted actual journalists.  I'm going to update this periodically throughout the night, so this post will get a bit long and push other content down the page.  Washington results will stay above the fold, national results below.  If you have stories about today, weird happenin's at the polls, outbursts of rage about outcomes we don't like.  

For national numbers, I suggest CNN's page.

UPDATE: It's just been announced that Democrats have won back the House of Representatives for the first time since 1994!

Polls close in Washington state at 8:00, first (mail-in ballot) numbers will be public at 8:15.

UPDATE: 13% of the vote counted, Darcy leads Reichert by 199 votes. This one will not be decided tonight. Hang in there!

Okay. I admit, it's too much to try and keep up with all this info. SO:

Secretary of State's results

Snohomish County results

King 5's elections page

King County's election page

AP Results

On my piano sits a hymn book I've kept there since my days as an active Mormon when, among other things, I played the organ every Sunday in church. One of the hymns in that book is entitled, The Morning Breaks, The Shadows Flee."

Such describes my mood today. Once again those of us who've been actively involved in what we were taught in our civics classes - and believed -  enter into this bi-annual day of hope with a prayer that by the end of the day we will have taken giant steps back toward social, economic and political sanity.

Many like me re-entered our political process with reluctance, not wanting to be bothered ... until it became clear that those driving the vehicle of democracy had their pedal to the floor, little concern for steering through hair-pin curves and no concern for the safety of America's citizens and the cargo of constitutional protections and freedom.

We clearly saw madmen at the wheel.

Any change from our current circumstance - from having exchanged citizen priorities for corporate priorities to having lost the most powerful global influence for good in the name of greed, corporate capitalism and undifferentiated power - will be a giant step backward toward sanity.

Tomorrow the Air Force Times, The Army Times, The Navy Times and the Marine Times are publishing an editorial calling for Bush to fire Rumsfeld. The editorial says Rumsfeld has "lost credibility" with top officers. As a legitimate action of genuine political support of our sons and daughters at war, the implication of these editorials is enormous. They  accomplish more in one moment than 6 years of presidential appearances on military installations, in military communities and at VFW and American Legion Conventions.

In addition, the military "Times" editorials effectively counter the shabby and foolish decision of the VFW to endorse a did-not-serve cheap-talking Republican candidate rather than Democratic Congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq veteran who lost both legs to the Republican Occupation of Iraq.

I just got off the phone. At this very moment, King County Elections is short 3 poll inspectors, 15 judges trained on the touchscreens, and about 200 poll workers (target 4,000).

I know everyone's busy, etc. But I'll personally buy a beer or latte for anyone who signs up to be a poll worker for the upcoming general. Last training is Monday afternoon.

Please call 206-296-VOTE (206-296-8683). (It's quicker than using the online form.)

 

 

Originally posted at The Left Shue

Apparently John Kerry botched a joke about George W. Bush. It has been under-reported that the text of Kerry's prepared remarks was distributed to the media prior to his misstatement. The text includes the words "end up getting us" before the offending "stuck in Iraq". It clearly shows his remarks were aimed at Bush and not the troops. Bush and the republicans were quick to attack Senator Kerry.

Al Gore delivered his "An Inconvenient Truth" presentation at KeyArena this last Monday. The Seattle PI covered it.

Elsewhere and beforehand, Gore was campaigning for local Democrats. Here's writeups in the Seattle PI and the Seattle Times (David Postman).

My own write up follows.

$500k by 10/31!

I haven't done much begging for the money angle (heck, I haven't written on the frontpage in forever), but this is crunch time, and I want to give whatever extra push I can to get Darcy over the top.

Darcy needs $500,000 by October 31st to compete with Sheriff Hairspray on the airwaves, and with exactly seven days left, she's only $127,000 short!  I've been watching her thermometer, and if my math is right, she's put together about $150,000 in the last week - let's help her not just reach but blow past her goal!

So the campaign knows what money is coming from Washblog, add $.39 to your contribution so they can track us.  

And since I need more text to keep the thermometer image from running all over the page...

From Postman:

Q: Is the President responsible for the fact people think it's stay the course since he's, in fact, described it that way himself?

MR. SNOW: No.

Words almost fail me.

Now go help Darcy.  (heck, help Peter Goldmark, too)

[Important Update: See Hominid View's How Luke Esser Lost a Billion Dollars for an explanation and documentation on how Esser's cost his constituents $1 billion and now drivers will pay an "Esser Toll" on SR-520 and I-90.]

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Luke Esser arrived very late. He walked in with a smarmy look on his face, and never apologized or explained his delay. C.R. Douglas brought him up to speed with the discussions and asked Esser to provide his positions on the issues already discussed. In defense of his position to support the I-912 campaign he explained he felt all tax decisions should go to a popular vote. Rodney Tom reminded him that the 48th voted against I-912, and hence to approve the gas tax increase, by 2 to 1. Esser stated that voters made the wrong choice. Tom felt that was an insult to voters.
From Eastside Candidates Transporation Forum, Daniel Kirkdorffer, On the Road to 2008.

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Wow, great stuff from Daniel, who attended the Eastside Transportation Coalition discussion on regional transportation issues last night and wrote it up this morning.   The story's complete with photos and  a table summarizing the panelists' positions on key issues.  Eric Oemig, Toby Nixon, Deb Eddy, Rodney Tom, and Luke Esser were present.  While you're at it, don't miss Darryl Holman's Hominid Views post on a lying robo call that Luke Esser's campaign has out on his opponent, Rodney Tom.  David Goldstein follows up with a frivolous ethics complaint regarding unnatural acts with pigs, and provides a link to the sound file (of the robo call, not the unnatural acts).  Representative Toby Nixon weighs in on the HorsesAss comment threads and Drinking Liberally.

About this Iran thing: Can Bush start another war on his own? Can he do another preemptive strike? Does he need Congress' authorization?