One of the more bizarre (and delicious) offerings from Grendelsweet Chocolate at the Chocolate Salon. In a rare escape from the insular, hater- and stan-filled world of local hiphop, Seattlest visited the realm of food lovers at TasteTV's Chocolate Salon on Sunday morning; the foodie realm is also insular, but significantly more sugary, and involves oddities such as chocolate virgins de Guadeloupe (from Alma). Twenty-some chocolatiers arrived with wares to share and sell, and......

POLITICALLY CRAFTY: If you're a Washingtonian for Obama and you love arts and crafts, you'll love making buttons for Obama. The buttons you make will be passed out locally at voter registration and special events, and in communities as far away as West Virginia. Make a difference with a small piece of metal. 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. // Vivace Espresso // 901 East Denny Way // FREE JOB HUNTING/LIFE SEARCHING: Richard Bolles, author......

The PI's Big Blog floated the rumor yesterday that Washington's own "mom in tennis shoes," Patty Murray, could become Obama's running mate. We did a double take and wondered if someone had spiked our morning coffee. While Murray has been a successful legislator for Washington State, she was a fierce Hillary supporter until throwing her support behind Obama on Sunday. She doesn't add what Obama needs to the ticket anyway. By noon yesterday, Murray's......

As our friend pointed out, between the weather, the Mariners, and The Love Guru, 2008 could go down as the worst summer in history. The Seattle Times took a big poop-poop all over everyone's lives by reporting that the cooler than normal temperatures could be with us through July. We understand that not all of you prefer blue skies and warm temperature, so enjoy this, it's your time. As for the rest of us,......

Photos Courtesy of the AP The Amanda Knox case, similar to Hillary Clinton's campaign for the Democratic nomination, seems to be never-ending. It boggles the mind how Knox still sits uncharged in an Italian jail while evidence continues to build that she is likely innocent. Just like the Hillary campaign, the Italian police seem to be continuously denying the most recent evidence and plodding on the course they planned to take all along: Hillary......

">Throughout the campaign we have been gathering the top political writers in the country, and asking them to discuss the presidential race. Today they discuss the end of the Democratic primary, Senator Clinton's future, and a brief look at the general. Seattlest: It's been a very eventful week, with Senator Obama wrapping up the nomination and Senator Clinton set to end her campaign, where do you see the race going now? Ryan (Time Magazine): Finally.......

This whole thing started way back on January 3, a gray, rainy winter day with a high of 47. Now, six months later in the heat of a gray, rainy summer day with a high close to 60, it will come to an end. Remember how all those states moved their primary/caucus dates up so they would be important, how did that work there, Florida/Michigan? Senator Obama has rented out the 20,000 seat Xcel......

TALK ABOUT YOUR HEALTH: Founder of Bastyr University and chief science officer for Metagenetics, Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D., thinks we should be focusing on "biochemical individuality derived from genetic and environmental differences." Seems practical enough. He'll be speaking on the matter tonight and, if you're interested in the ongoing debate about how to fix our healthcare system, you should check out his talk, entitled Healthcare Reform 2008: Creating a True Health Care System. 7:30 p.m. //......

Only a few more states now. Tonight Kentucky and our downstairs roommate Oregon will have their voice spun. Wouldn't candidates save a whole bunch of time, money, and fuel if primaries were held geographically? Plus the media could label each night like they do with the Potomac Primary. Washington, Oregon, and Idaho could be Sasquatch Saturday. Senator Clinton should take the Bluegrass State for certain reasons, and Senator Obama will win Oregon for other......

Obama in Portland, Ore. at a record-setting rally on Sunday. (Courtesy of the AP) Portland, Oregon showed it was truly Obama country during a rally on Sunday, where an estimated 75,000 people showed up to hear the candidate speak at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, on the bank of the Willamette River. The photos of Obama--an ant amidst a sea of people--must be sending chills down the Clinton campaign's collective spine. The 75,000 strong crowd doubled......

Once again political pundits say that Hillary Clinton has to win either Indiana or North Carolina or it’s curtains for her--same as it ever was. As the race has turned to the "blue collar" states, we are being attacked more because we drink lattes, are more likely to drive a Volvo than a truck, and don't buy clothes at Wal-Mart. We've heard these attacks before, from those on the right, and understand why the......

Last week Seattlest sent us down to North Carolina to find out how people in that crucial state feel about Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and being the focus of the national media. During our forty-five minute lay-over at Charlotte's Douglas Airport, we spoke with people of all races, ages, and height. At "The Official NASCAR Gift Shop," a young Caucasian woman named Sally was neatly stacking hats. Was she one of the many Democratic voters......

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's controversial pastor and friend, gave a widely criticized speech yesterday on Black Liberation Theology, patriotism, and his relationship with Barack Obama. Obama gave a press conference of his own today, saying he's "outraged" at Rev. Wright's "appalling" comments. He emphasized that Rev. Wright was never his "spiritual advisor," though the pastor married the Senator and his wife and prayed with them the day Obama announced his presidential candidacy. Some......

Thank the sweet lord that the Pennsylvania Primary is finally here. In the six weeks since Barack Obama won Vermont, we've been forced to deal with the worst of what American political campaigns have to offer. Seriously, you folks in Western Pennsylvania want to talk about bitterness, just get any Seahawk fan started on the Super Bowl against your Steelers. We’ll see your guns and religion, and raise you clinging to the game’s officiating.......

Clinton, of course, would be a Boca-Burger. We all know the drill: you are what you eat. But does who you are also determine your presidential candidates? Are the late-night comedians right? Is Clinton butter to Obama's olive oil? According to a story in today's New York Times McCain's supporters shop at Safeway, Clinton's at Whole Foods, Obama's at farmers markets. (We have the feeling he'd do better in Fremont than Magnolia.) All too easy.......

Eric Alterman is the sort of liberal we like to refer to as a "Democrat," as in, capitol "D" Democratic Party stalwart. As such, this Nation columnist and Media Matters blogger was an arch-partisan prototype for those crazy kids at DailyKos, back in the days when armchair politicos were relegated to penning rants to the editor of their local newspaper. In advance of his appearance tonight at Town Hall to promote his new book, Why......

With none of the excitement of the NCAA Tournament, and probably half of the NIT Tournament, the Huskies will open play in the first round of the inaugural CBI Tournament tonight at Hec Ed. The opponent will be Valparaiso, best known for their incredible buzzer beater in the 1998 NCAA Tournament (the shot is at the 2:12 mark). Awesome to watch, but is there any way to, y'know, Hollywood it up a bit? Perfect! The......

Geraldine Ferraro, who claims that a black guy named Barack Obama has an advantage in running for president in America, something pretty similar to what she said about Jesse Jackson in 1988, was reluctantly shit-canned by the Clinton campaign. Presumably for not being negative enough. Luckily for us, Ferraro is a huge Husky basketball fan and agreed to share her thoughts on UDub's opening round loss 84-81 loss to Cal in the Pac Ten Tournament.......

In the New Yorker's Talk of the Town this week, they mention the IdreamofHillaryIdreamofBarack website, at which people who have dreamed of either candidate are invited to share what went down (and recently, for balance, McCain dreamers are invited to contribute, too). It's pretty much what you'd expect, but the sole Seattle mention so far is disheartening. It doesn't say if the contributor is from Seattle or not, but either way, is this really how......

On Saturday night Rainer Beach and Auburn Riverside captured the state's boys and girls 3A basketball championships. However, the lasting legacy of the tournament may be the words of Lakes Coach JoJo Rodriguez. Following his team's first round victory, he told the Times: "Unranked Meadowdale cut Lakes' lead to 63-60 with 1:03 to play, but Rodriguez said he remembered the advice given to him long ago by his mentor, Al Hairston, who won five Class......

Over at the Slog, they've tossed some fresh meat to the slavering Obama and Clinton hounds: video of Clinton repeating three or four times that she and McCain have a lifetime of experience to draw upon, while Obama has "a speech he made in 2002." Which makes this TIME article about the value of experience especially topical:[Anders] Ericsson's primary finding is that rather than mere experience or even raw talent, it is dedicated, slogging, generally......

This post is brought to you by, we believe, Seattlest's lone Hillary supporter or, as we like to refer to ourself, Hillpporter. If you travel around the tubes today, you might see all manner of photos of Hillary Clinton looking very happy, surrounded by oodles of confetti. That's because, last night, Hillary brought it, winning the primaries in Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island. We kind of wanted to go watch the returns with all......

Tonight is the fifth in the Do-or-Die/Must-Win primary series that will hopefully be over by the Olympics. Texas and Ohio are the only states to care about, mainly because Vermont and Rhode Island haven't carried any clout since they both went for John Adams. So if you're not heading down to the Old Pequilar for Quiz Night, or over to Neumos for British Sea Power, why not turn on the TV and watch as......

MIT behavioral economist Dan Ariely has gone on record (video above) weighing the pros and cons of Barack Obama, thereby guaranteeing that someone will ask a cringe-inducing "joke" question about his preference of candidates during the Q&A after his talk at Town Hall tonight. His studies show that people clearly make irrational mistakes, thus thwarting the expectations of standard economists and turning them into crabby people with shriveled souls. Yet, because we make them over......

We have gathered some of the top political writers in the country and asked them to discuss the presidential race throughout the year. Today they will discuss the Democratic race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Seattlest-- How do you feel Senator Clinton's recent attacks on Senator Obama are shaping the upcoming Texas and Ohio primaries? Jeff (San Francisco Chronicle)-- I've got to come clean with my dirty secret-- I'm starting to get cold feet......

Photo credit: sniderscion Torontoist spent its week uncovering who was behind mysterious ads for a drug called "Obay" that popped up across the country (Scientology? Frank Shepard Fairey?), first tracing them to an advocacy group called Colleges Ontario and then confirming their suspicions a few days later.Phillyist learned how to put on a puppet show – it's not as easy as you might think!Shanghaiist discovers that the average starting monthly pay for fresh graduates......

Over the weekend we got an email from our friend in Wisconsin asking, "Why does Washington have a caucus and a primary? I don't get it. How does this work?" Uh, it has something to do with a pissing match between the state legislature and the state parties? We really don’t know, so we sent her this article, and changed the subject. No Democratic delegates will be handed out tonight, and the Republican winner will......

Photo by Phillyist's Matt Johnson, SkyscraperSunset.com, December 19, 2007. Phillyist explored an impending implosion and lived to tell the tale.Gothamist marveled at the city's new NYC-branded condom campaign - especially the use of a Toronto landmark in the advertising. (Also, fun fact: Gothamist turned five years old yesterday.)Tired of the worldwide Scientology protests? Torontoist totally isn't: they covered the big downtown protest the day it happened, and followed up with an examination of all......

Seattle's City Markets hand-drawn advertisements have made national blogs and newspapers. Using the celebrity of the moment or the latest scandal, they entice you to come on in and get a great deal. Previous targets have included Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lynn Spears, Trent Lott, and Ben Affleck. Today The City Market decided to take a political turn with their advertisements, by featuring the democratic front-runners for President, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Happily, a Seattlest......

Unlike Kevin Henry, Congressman Brian Baird, of Washington's third district, has endorsed Barack Obama. He joins Congressman Adam Smith, Governor Gregoire, and Pearl Jam as state leaders on Obama's side. Hillary Clinton has the the support of Senator Murray, Senator Cantwell, Congresman Jay Inslee, and King County Executive Ron Sims.......