Last week, I was kindly extended an invitation to attend a DC screening of "Khodorkovsky," a film about the wealthy Russian businessman and former owner of Yukos oil, who is currently serving time in a hard-labor prison in Siberia.

Usually, I'm not a fan of documentaries. But this is a film worth seeing if you're interested in Russian politics, democratization and/or rule of law issues (as indeed yours truly is). The film traces Mikhail Khodorkovsky's rise from chemical engineering student and member of his university's Komsomol to his entry on the scene as Russia's most internationally identifiable oligarch to his establishment as an advocate for democracy and improved governance and a prominent philanthropist.

It does this using a mix of still photography, slightly Banksy-esque animated sequences, and interviews with former business partners, Russian officials, journalists, family, Khodorkovsky himself and other colleagues. It tells a tale of a man who benefited from a system he came to oppose, pitting him against then-President Vladimir Putin, something that no doubt was responsible for his fate ultimately being sealed. The handling of cases involving Yukos executives has been significantly scrutinized and criticized by the Council of Europe and various Council of Europe entities, who view Russia's actions as going beyond pursuit of criminal justice, and entailing the deliberate targeting of political opponents and diverse authoritarian abuses. ...

A new Elway Poll released yesterday contains some bad news for Sen. Maria Cantwell. Just 40 percent of the 405 registered voters surveyed say she's doing an "excellent" or "good" job, while 52 percent say she's doing an "only fair" or "poor" job. Compare that to an equivalent point in 2005, just ahead of her last re-election, and it represents a significant slide: Then, 52 percent said she was doing an "excellent" or "good" job, and 38 percent said she was doing an "only fair" or "poor" job. Those are numbers that have some Republicans in Washington hopeful, once again, about picking off a Senate seat, though other numbers in the poll hint at why those same Republicans might not want to hold their breath.

46 percent of those surveyed in this poll would re-elect Cantwell, while 36 percent would replace her, a near replication of the numbers she carried around this time in 2005, when more voters thought she was performing well as a senator. So, like last time, the poll shows Cantwell maintaining a 10-point advantage over "somebody else"-- and that's the real key here. Cantwell beat Republican opponent Mike McGavick 57 percent to his 40 percent last time around. A ten point gap is a ten point gap, except when it turns into an even bigger gap. Cantwell has some experience of exploiting opponents' vulnerabilities, flaws and weaknesses to run up her numbers, so at a minimum, to keep that gap as small as possible and make this race competitive, Republicans had better start planning now to put forward a highly credible, top-notch candidate-- and even then, get ready for disappointment....

Interesting item I missed yesterday from the Seattle Times' Jim Brunner:

It may sound like a crazy rumor, but Ohio's Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich may really be thinking about running for Congress in Washington state — possibly in the yet-to-be drawn new 10th District.

As noted by Eli Sanders at the Stranger, there is talk among high-level political sources about why Kucinich, the fiery liberal-vegan-sometimes-presidential-candidate has been spending time recently in Washington state.

I thought this was nuts when I first heard about it today, but have since talked to a reputable source who says there may be something to the chatter.

A call to Kucinich's office this afternoon did not put the rumor to rest.

Kucinich's press secretary, Nathan White, sent along this statement:

"After people found out that Congressman Kucinich’s district could be eliminated or substantially altered in congressional redistricting by the Ohio Legislature’s Republican majority, Congressman Kucinich received requests from people in twenty states, including Washington State, encouraging him to move and run in their area. The Daily Show interview is instructive of this sentiment....