In my inbox this morning is an email announcing that on February 25, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and former Sen. Slade Gorton will be hosting a fundraising breakfast here in DC for Jaime Herrera-- one of the big names competing to succeed Rep. Brian Baird in representing Washington's third district in Congress.

The breakfast will take place on the Hill from 8-9AM.  Herrera should walk away from it with a bit of money to line the campaign coffers: Attendees are being asked to cut a check for $250 (if an individual) or $1,000 (if a PAC).

I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see David Castillo knock Herrera for raising money in DC (he's already poked her for seeking support from folks outside the third district).  I also fully anticipate the DCCC will blast her for taking PAC contributions (because Democrats never, ever do that). 

Personally, I don't think anyone's going to fault Herrera's former boss (McMorris Rodgers), who is of course also from the Evergreen State, for wanting to help her out-- and McMorris Rodgers, like most federal-level elected officials, is in DC on Thursday mornings.  Furthermore, I maintain that Slade Gorton's backing is going to be very helpful to Herrera-- as will any money she takes away from this event. [intro]

Hey there, Illinois. It's me, Liz. I know, I've never really visited you (though your Chicago-O'Hare airport has some cool dinosaur stuff in it). I'm not a Bulls, Bears, White Sox or Cubs fan. My best connection to you is that my Dad went to an art school on your turf a very long time ago.

So maybe it's not my business to comment on your politics, but you know what, I'm going to. Because while the rest of the country is kind of amused by the fact that in addition to electing ethically-challenged crooked Governors, your Democratic Party also nominated a guy who allegedly digs holding knives to prostitutes' throats, a lot of us are equally astounded that you could potentially go one step further and go ahead and elect to the US Senate that Alexi Giannoulias dude.

Alexi, as we all know, is your new Democratic nominee who will be running against Mark Kirk. Unlike Mark Kirk, we all know, Alexi has some problems. Like his mob connections to one "Jaws" Giorango, to whom Alexi's bank lent money, for example. Those of us who have been paying attention remember that Chicago Tribune piece from April 27, 2006, that cites Giannoulias saying "he once discussed Giorango's criminal past with him." Now, of course, Alexi says this: “If I knew now what I knew then, we probably wouldn’t have approved those loans.” Alexi wants to make this a non-issue, kind of like how Blagojevich wanted to make his alleged efforts to auction off Obama's Senate seat a non-issue, and kind of like how William Jefferson wants you to think that keeping a bunch of cash in your freezer is, like, super-normal....

Over the last two years, between auto bailouts and the usual angst emanating from hardcore environmentalists* about SUVs and the like, the auto industry has been under fire for being outmoded, falling behind, and failing to aggressively pursue new technologies—especially green ones—to the extent that some other industries purportedly do.

A recent visit to Washington’s Auto Show, however, further underlines how this kind of thinking is increasingly fueled by fiction, not fact, and fails to give the industry its dues for some fairly amazing advancements, especially in the realm of green tech, of late.

Everyone knows about the Prius and various other types of Hybrid. After last night’s Superbowl coverage, many will be aware of Audi’s Clean Diesel (Volkswagen’s TDI fleet having already garnered a lot of attention since its earlier roll-out). And we hear a lot about the 2011 Chevy Volt.

But in the next year or so, Nissan is expecting to roll out the LEAF—an electric car that takes green to all-new levels.

...