Rob McKenna has a reputation for moderation in some quarters, but does he deserve it? Can a centrist still run for statewide office as a Republican? more ›

It's not 2012 yet, but that hasn't stopped pollsters and journalists from trying to read the tea leaves. Here's an overview of what the insiders are saying: more ›

Official election night parties usually don't get too rowdy--perhaps an intern has a little too much to drink and gets fresh, but that's about where it ends. Which is why Dino Rossi and Dave Reichert's party at the Bellevue Hilton was just begging for members of the Stranger Election Control Board (at least Lindy West and Bethany Jean Clement), who came prepared with Four Loko. more ›

The joy of challenging an incumbent is that you can make all of DC your whipping boy. This is a political standard is older than John McCain. Experts have found that a candidate can employ this method successfully in any election for either party. Last night, Republican Senatorial Candidate Dino Rossi was in incumbent attack mode, demonstrating his very own flavor of anti-DC rhetoric. more ›

Tonight, Dino Rossi will do his little turn on the catwalk. Seattle PI’s The Big Blog is reporting that our own GOP Senatorial candidate will walk the runway later this evening for Fashion First’s annual show. more ›

The results are in! Thanks to Washington’s painfully slow vote counting process, results won’t be made official till September, but thankfully there weren’t too many nail biters this primary season. If you’re itching for a more comprehensive list of the results, check out King County’s election website. more ›

The former Governor of Alaska and noted Culture Warrior Sarah Palin endorsed former Washington Redskins player Clint Didier for his US Senate run yesterday. This news came as a surprise to Democratic leaders in the state, already plotting a campaign against Didier's likely primary opponent Dino Rossi. The maverick-y former VP Candidate endorsed Didier despite recent polls showing that Rossi would be the strongest candidate against incumbent Senator Patty Murray in November. more ›

• Awwwwwww, yeeeeah! Seattle was named 2009 City of the Year by Fast Company Magazine. Go us.
• Think again if you're up to no good in West Seattle, they have "Deadly Aim" on their side. Word to the wise, don't want to mess with a roller derby girls, especially this weekend.
• Never thought you'd see this: Former GOP Nominee Dino Rossi challenge former Seahawk, Brock Huard to a spring roll-eating contest. Anything for charity, right? It's the last day to get your tickets to the ID Spring Roll 2009, a party/fundraiser for the International District's Downtown Chinatown. Oh, the Massive Monkees will be there too.

It's opening day of the 2009 duck-hunting season state legislative session, and all signs point towards an interestingly contentious set of months in Olympia as the legislators deal with a deepening budget crisis. The Times notes that since Gregoire isn't campaigning anymore, state Democrats are now free to complain as loudly as their hearts desire without fear of giving an advantage to Dino Rossi's camp. For more information about the agendas of each committee meeting today, check Access Washington's calendar page. more ›

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity to win a college football game, would you capture it, or just let it slip? more ›

A lot has happened since November 4; we decided to spend $1.4 billion more than we thought we would on November 3, for one thing. State legislators learned of the new $4.6 billion estimate this morning, says the P-I. In response, Governor Gregoire has asked state agencies to look at cuts of up to 20 percent across the board. You already know what the Republicans will say about this, so we turned to the plucky third-party GOP candidate, Dino Rossi. Whoops, nothing there. So back to the Republicans. Nothing there either. It's like these people only care about budgets when there's an election. more ›

Rossi is on TV right now conceding the governor's race to Christine Gregoire, saying "The voters have a right to hold her to [her] promise." He's bloviating about his vote margin and his level of contributions. He'll be back in the business world, will "see what business opportunities there may be." He's "very comfortable in the business world." He "doesn't need a political career." He'll "be home for dinner tonight...tomorrow night, too." And he's thanking everyone who's helped out, asking the Dinocrats to not be disillusioned. more ›

Thank you all for participating in our Seattlest Vote 2008 Polls over the last week! Though the polls were informal, they still give us a fairly good reading on how the Seattlest community will be voting today. more ›

The Seattle Times Blethens have endorsed Dino Rossi (R) for Washington State Governor, saying "he can best be trusted to erase the state's huge projected deficit without raising taxes." The Seattle P-I endorses Christine Gregoire (D), pointing out, "Especially for uncertain times, she's a much more proven leader than her Republican rival, former state Sen. Dino Rossi." The Seattle Times, under Blethen leadership, has laid off about 20 percent of its staff this year, so we're a little dubious about their powers of prognostication when it comes to dealing with huge projected deficits. more ›

There are two weeks until Election Day, and two issues in our state's gubernatorial race (three if you count Eastern Washington's concerns). Each week we'll be taking an award-winning look at where the candidates stand. more ›

• Finally, a condo sign that got it right! Thanks, MyBallard, for making our morning...we literally laughed out loud.
• Woah, West Seattle: a gallon of gas below $3! We didn't think we'd be seeing that any time soon.
• The Rainier Valley Post and the Beacon Hill Blog want to let you know the city is hosting meetings in neighborhoods near light rail stations to discuss parking. If you live in the south end, there's likely a meeting near you in the next few weeks.

We just ran across the Seattle Times comparison of Gregoire's and Rossi's positions on the environment, largely cribbed from our exhaustive Seattlest coverage of the same topic. Republican Dino Rossi says maybe human activity is to blame for climate change, so operating on the theory than an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, "He...wants to spend $15 billion to expand highways and reduce traffic congestion, which he argues would reduce emissions." Seriously. He also thinks you should fix your leaky water hose by buying a much larger one and leaving it running all the time. more ›

There are three weeks until Election Day, and three issues in our state's gubernatorial race (four if you count Eastern Washington's concerns). Each week we'll be taking an award-winning look at where the candidates stand. more ›

• West Seattle Blog has what could at least be construed as good news for your wallet--the cost of gas is down $1 from its peak prices this summer.
• You've savored her crepes at local farmer's markets, and now you can support Anita and her delicious crepes at her brand-new Ballard restaurant.
• The Big Blog wonders why the Seattle P-I's website is blocked in Thailand.

WORDY SHIPMATES: Sarah Vowell's finally here to read from her book about the thought-life of Puritans such as John Winthrop, Anne Hutchinson, and Roger Williams. She's "not interested in the whole person," says Vowell in a recent interview with Seattlest Editor MvB. Take Roger Williams: "I'm mostly interested in what he thought about religion, government, community, Indians and how much Roger Williams was getting on his nerves. I don't really give a hoot what he had for breakfast or how he felt about his mom." This is one reading we feel more than comfortable recommending! more ›

Though we know you're just finishing up reading the transcripts from yesterday's Reichert vs. Burner debate, it's already time for another Washington State debate. Tonight, Governor Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi will meet in Spokane for the fourth debate in the hotly contested gubernatorial race. It's the second to last meeting for the candidates before the general election on November 4th. The final debate will be held between Gregoire and Rossi next Wednesday in Seattle. With the way things are going, maybe this go-around can be won by a margin of at least 200 votes. more ›

Governor Christine Gregoire has admitted Washington is facing a budget deficit for 2009-11 (currently the state has a surplus), after third-party "GOP" candidate (He's what now? A Republican?) Dino Rossi staked out the issue. Now that she's announced cutbacks and a raid on the state's rainy day fund to cut the projected $3.2 billion deficit by half, Rossi can't find anything good to say about that, either. It is thrilling to hear a Republican deride reckless deficit spending; Ronald Reagan was all for it. But besides his time machine which transports tomorrow's deficits to today, Rossi seems to have a magic calculator, too--his 8-lane 520 bridge practically pays for itself. more ›

Yesterday, Faith Ireland and Robert Utter, two former state Supremes, officially filed suit against the BIAW and said they intend to sue Dino Rossi. They claim Rossi was too hands-on in 2007 with what's supposed to be an independent BIAW PAC. If he, as a candidate, coordinated with the PAC in any way, the PAC would be limited to spending $2,800 on a race they've spent $2 million on in 2008. Rossi says: "If what they were saying were true, which it isn't, there would be no problem with it being true..." Yikes. It's a tough campaign season for the BIAW, which is also being sued by Republican AG Rob McKenna for inappropriate touching of worker's comp funds, among other things. more ›

There are five weeks until Election Day, and five issues in our state's gubernatorial race (six if you count Eastern Washington's concerns). Each week we'll be taking an award-winning look at where the candidates stand. more ›

The Seattle Times--almost coming right out and saying something without regard for nuance and subtlety--has decided to set the facts straight about that Washington state deficit the Dino-Rossi-for-Gov ads are whacking Gov Gregoire over the head with. "The ads assert the state has a deficit. [...] The ad is inaccurate for this reason: The state is facing a projected $3.2 billion budget hole next year, but it does not have a deficit today." In fact, for this fiscal year we've got a surplus. We have to hand it to Rossi though: A major ad campaign tarring someone for how they've handled the future is an example of bold leadership. more ›

Though the political news of the day is most certainly McCain's ploy to "suspend" his campaign and delay the first presidential debate as well as the VP debate in order to concentrate on the economic crisis, there's other news out today about the plight of Republican candidates this year. According to the New York Times, Washington State Democrats are suing to force Republican candidate for governor Dino Rossi to list his party affiliation on the ballot as "Republican" and not "GOP" which apparently polls higher. more ›

For those of you still bummed you missed out on a political announcement via text message, you have a second chance. GOP gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi and his campaign have launched a text message network to update Rossi supporters. If you text the word DINO (in charming all-caps) to 99222, you too can get updates on the Rossi campaign and the candidate's whereabouts. Be the first on your block to know when Dino Rossi is stumping in your neighborhood or when he finally figures out how to "not let Seattle steal another election." We wonder if his text network will have different messages for Western and Eastern voters. We imagine Rossi's Eastern Washington billboard slogan doesn't work quite as well with the remaining Seattle Republicans. more ›

• The Belltowner is the bearer of wonderful and awful news. The very, very good? H&M opens in downtown Seattle on Thursday...as in tomorrow! The not at all good news? A policeman on bike was attacked with a surgical instrument in Belltown this Saturday.
• A West Seattle "Thriller" dance team is practicing to participate in a dance-off to beat the world "Thriller" record.
• Blogging Georgetown wonders if there's a real estate glut in the neighborhood.

Howard Dean's visit to Renton this weekend was really only the beginning of what is sure to be a lively seven weeks until the election. The first celebrity deathmatch pitting Obama versus McCain on national TV is still 11 days away. But if you want to wet your chops with a little political debate action this week, you're in luck. Our own homestate smackdown will be broadcast on KOMO-4 this Saturday, Sept. 20, at 9 p.m. It's the first of five scheduled debates, so we suggest you get to work on the rules for your Gregoire v. Rossi drinking game. We'll start you off: anyone mentions the viaduct, you drink. more ›

According to a King5-commissioned poll, Barack Obama's lead in Washington is diminishing. Obama's lead has dropped from double digits in June to only four percentage points in the most recent poll. If the election was held today, 49% of Washingtonians would vote for Barack Obama and 45% would cast their vote for John McCain. more ›