From The Washington Ledge, earlier this week (which I missed):

Over the weekend State Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, formally threw his hat in the ring to take on Senator Patty Murray this fall.

A couple of other state GOP lawmakers have also been mentioned as possible candidates. State Rep. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, told me this morning that he plans to run if Dino Rossi doesn't.

Good Lord. I can't even keep track of how many people are actual or potential candidates running or set to run against Murray right now. Fortunately, the Ledge notes that while State Sen. Linda Evans Parlette says she's been asked to run, she's more interested in running for governor.

Washington State Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser seems to think this is all a good thing. I have to say, I beg to differ. Right now, it doesn't seem to me that Washington's Republicans are terribly far off from having a potential ten people kicking the living crap out of each other for the prize second place in Washington's top two primary while Murray coasts towards the finish line. And second place could be achieved with a relatively small proportion of the vote from which reaching 50% plus one could be a very long reach in what will in practice be a very short period of time (Washington has an August primary)....

In the last week, I've written two posts that note former Sen. Slade Gorton's endorsement of Jaime Herrera. But I would be remiss if I did not also take a moment to note David Castillo's endorsements, many if not all of which were obtained before I really started covering this race in any meaningful sense.

So here you have it: Per Castillo spokesman Bill Lohr (via the Columbian), Castillo has been endorsed by Attorney General Rob McKenna, someone of whom yours truly thinks very highly, and 13 House Republicans. Says Lohr on the subject of the respective endorsement tally between Castillo and Herrera, “I think it’s more telling that of her own colleagues in the state Legislature, more of them have endorsed David."

This is an interesting point, because on the one hand, yes, Herrera's colleagues in the legislature are the ones who know her best and who you might expect to be the most eager to jump on board her proverbial train. That being said, it is of course worth also mentioning that often, the earlier entrant to a race locks up support from big names in his or her party faster than a late entrant does-- and Herrera is a late entrant. Herrera entered the race very late in 2009; Castillo told me in my interview with him that he began running in June. So maybe yes, maybe no-- but worth pondering.

What I think is more noteworthy, overall, here is that each of these candidates has a big dog in the fight, and in their corner: McKenna for Castillo, Gorton for Herrera. As I've said before, this is going to be an interesting race to watch, and the split of big names between each camp only underlines the point. Stay tuned....

I rarely write about Virginia politics but after an, um, interesting conversation with my friend, the notorious Not Larry Sabato, tonight, I'm going to post a little, teensy comment about something, well, odd.

Over the weekend, the Virginian-Pilot ran an editorial entitled "Tinfoil hats are not enough." Here is part of it:

A Spotsylvania County delegate is sponsoring legislation this year that would put an end to a disturbing threat to public safety. Virginians are in danger of having top-secret microchips implanted against their will.

It must be true because the General Assembly is considering a law against it, and the Internet is full of warnings about the danger.[intro]

The alarming prospect of involuntary micro-chipping naturally has some people wondering whether they are already victims. Since symptoms include coughing unnessarily and hearing dogs barking when no dogs are around, there’s at least a fair chance.

Other symptoms include terrorists repeating victims’ thoughts inside their heads. The microchips have the ability to record those conversations and play them back. Somehow — perhaps involving lasers — the miniature computer circuits can also make 3-D scans of victims’ bodies while they sleep. It’s not known whether the scans are in color or black and white.

Del. Mark Cole apparently wants such blatant violations of privacy to cease, but other legislators have so watered down his bill that only insurance companies and employers are banned from using “tracking devices ... transmitting an individual’s identity, characteristics, status, group membership, travel history or location.” The penalty is a mere $500, which would be paid into the Literary Fund for school construction....