Blog

My piece yesterday at Red County:
At the outset of the 2010 cycle, both Republicans and Democrats were firmly focused on the same two Washington congressional races: Those in Washington’s Third District, and in Washington’s Eighth. Democrats believed the Eighth, held by Rep. Dave Reichert—and one of the most competitive in the country—could be poached. Republicans, meanwhile, had long considered six-term incumbent Brian Baird to be the most vulnerable...

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Via DailyKos (and I'm including their images here, too):
So, ladies, you say you want a raise? How should you go about getting it?
First, you have to figure out how to compete with the guy in the next cubicle. After all, he went to a school almost as good as yours. His grades were nearly as good as yours, too. He works hard. In fact, most mornings, he's the second person in the office. You know this, because you're always first. He is young, ruggedly good looking, and he washes his...

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SurveyUSA polled 562 likely voters in Washington's third district and look what they found: Jaime Herrera leads Denny Heck 54/41 among likely voters, with 5 percent undecided. Good news for Washington Republicans, all around.
Or is it?
Among friends who scrutinize polling rigorously, I've heard some questions raised lately about why SurveyUSA's numbers seem more Republican-favorable than those from other polls this cycle.
Do their determinations as to who qualifies as a...

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Marc Ambinder has the news:
Ken Mehlman, President Bush's campaign manager in 2004 and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has told family and associates that he is gay.
Mehlman arrived at this conclusion about his identity fairly recently, he said in an interview. He agreed to answer a reporter's questions, he said, because, now in private life, he wants to become an advocate for gay marriage and anticipated that questions would arise about his ...

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SurveyUSA did some polling in the aftermath of the Washington primary last week, and looky here at what they found. Statewide, among likely voters, Rossi leads Murray 52 to 45 percent. But more interestingly, in metropolitan Seattle, Rossi ties Murray with 48 percent.
Last week, I pointed out that Murray's approval numbers, according to SurveyUSA, were in the toilet, both statewide and in metropolitan Seattle, where a gigantic glut of liberal voters live. Just 41 percent of adults...

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My column at the American Spectator today (obligatory note of caution: ballots are still being counted in Washington, and some more came in and were counted after my deadline for this piece passed; this is most important to bear in mind when reading the second-to-last paragraph):
Washington State has a well-deserved reputation as a politically dark blue locale, virtually incapable of electing Republicans to major statewide offices, or to a majority of congressional seats. But with...

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My friend, Garrett Quinn, has a fairly flame-thrower-esque post over at his Boston.com blog. As a fellow hater of government-spending, immigration librul, and right-of-center individual not losing my [expletive] hourly over the planned Ground Zero mosque, there's a lot that I instinctively agree with here on a gut level. And Garrett's writing is very, very good. Here's an excerpt, but please go read the whole thing:
The tea party movement was something many libertarians had great hopes...

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Tomorrow, the results in Washington's top-two, "jungle" primary will finally be tallied, and general election matchups in three competitive races Republicans hope to win-- Washington Senate, and the third and eighth district congressional races-- will be set. Inside the Evergreen State and in the nation's capital, those watching events are curious what will ultimately happen.
Will Clint Didier make a decent showing and deprive Dino Rossi of an opportunity to match Patty Murray's share...

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In what can only be described as something of a coup for David Castillo, one of the two leading Republican contenders in Washington's third district, he has garnered the endorsements of every major newspaper read in Southwest Washington that endorses in primary contests.
Republican David Castillo has won endorsements from the Seattle Times, the Longview Daily News, the Chronicle of Centralia and the Columbian in his primary campaign for the open 3rd Congressional District...

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A regular reader of mine last night sent in a PDF of the July 28, 2010 edition of the Chinook Observer, a local paper read in Washington's third district. On page B6 appears a list of candidates who will feature on ballots used in the area for the August 17 primary. And guess what? According to the Chinook Observer, Denny Heck (the leading contender for a spot on the November ballot, and a Democrat) is actually a Republican!

Oops.
What's the story here, I wondered? Well,...

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