The Twitterverse is alive with commentary about President Obama's rather lame speech tonight about BP/energy/shiny objects (readers can select which of these think is applicable).

But the real meaning of the speech tonight can, I think, be found when considering these excerpts:

So I am happy to look at other ideas and approaches from either party - as long they seriously tackle our addiction to fossil fuels. Some have suggested raising efficiency standards in our buildings like we did in our cars and trucks. Some believe we should set standards to ensure that more of our electricity comes from wind and solar power. Others wonder why the energy industry only spends a fraction of what the high-tech industry does on research and development - and want to rapidly boost our investments in such research and development.

All of these approaches have merit, and deserve a fear [sic] hearing in the months ahead. But the one approach I will not accept is inaction. The one answer I will not settle for is the idea that this challenge is too big and too difficult to meet.

This has but one translation, and everyone who cares about energy and environmental policy should be paying attention because it's a big 'un: Barack Obama is not wedded to cap-and-trade and is setting things up so that if and when he signs into law something that is not cap-and-trade, nor something even possible to confuse with it, the big story will be "President gets groundbreaking energy bill," and not "President fails to get legislation he's been advocating for four straight years passed."...

Just how bad are Democratic fortunes looking this year?  So bad that, it turns out, the DCCC's "Red to Blue" list-- you know, its list of seats it supposedly wants to change from Republican-held to Democrat-held-- in fact contains seven seats currently held by Democrats.

One of those is retiring WA-03 Rep. Brian Baird who, to be fair, might have been confused by toe-the-liners at the DCCC for a Republican because he flipped to supporting ongoing engagement in Iraq, and originally voted against the Democrats' big government health care experiment.  He's also taken a hard line on illegal immigration (in 2007, co-sponsoring a bill with none other than Tom Tancredo).  Nonetheless, he is a Democrat.

Republicans in Southwest Washington will, of course, be heartened to know that Denny Heck is not considered a shoo-in by the DCCC, and is viewed as one of 26 congressional candidates whose ability to win without DCCC support is in question enough that they have been added to this particular list.  That means the DCCC sees this race as roughly as tough for Heck as they do Suzan Del Bene (running against Dave Reichert in WA-08)-- no good sign, since that seat actually is held by a Republican, and one who seems to increase his share of the vote each time he runs.  Heck will likely prove a more formidable opponent than Del Bene, but still, this is a good indicator that he's beatable.

Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan, who heads the NRCC's incumbent retention program-- ironically, what "Red to Blue" seems to be designed to serve as for Democrats, to a degree, this year-- reportedly quipped to a PAC leadership meeting that the DCCC list might be better dubbed "Blue to Blue."  "We've all been having a good laugh about that," a source said he commented.

Fair enough, but Denny Heck might not agree. [intro]

So, Don Benton took to the air tonight on KING5 for a big announcement.  Speculation on the Twitters was that he'd be dropping out of the Washington Senate race. Said speculation was reinforced by Benton's own Twitter feed.

Forgive me for yawning. I've heard that a certain "politically savvy" Benton fan whose name rhymes with "Belly" trashed me a couple months ago using four and five letter words typically applied to women that aren't very nice for suggesting that Benton would do just this shortly after Dino Rossi entered the Senate race.  After all, Benton's fundraising was so stellar (he managed a weak $130,000 raised in two months of campaigning).  And Benton was at least seen to imply he wouldn't drop out just last week.

But full credit to Benton: This was the smart move, and he didn't hang about creating difficulties for himself or for Rossi.  He exits the race in good standing with Washington Republicans.  I certainly think well of him for doing this. [intro]