By coincidence, it was while we were sitting in the over-crowded number 14 bus on the way to work when we came across this gem of an article in the New York Times: "Drop in Miles Driven Is Depleting Highway Fund; Loan From Mass Transit Is Urged." Our sneering disbelief was interrupted by being smacked in the face by the laptop bag of the guy standing next to our seat in the aisle; the 14......

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......

Now that all votes are in, all caucuses adjourned, CNN declaring it all for Obama, here's how the day fared for our Seattlest contributors: Charles: "In my precinct we gave four delegates to Obama and two to Hillary -- and yours truly is a delegate for his district and county caucuses! I heard that a few other precincts at my site went 4-1 Obama. In Shoreline a friend said it was roughly 70-30 and......

We here at Seattlest really wanted to go out and caucus on Saturday, however, HBO is showing Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. So we made some calls, and the DNC gave us permission to hold a special caucus today. They even threw in a couple delegates that Utah wasn’t going to use: Courtney: I'm caucusing for Obama even though it kills me not to be an active part of trying to put the first......

First of all, let us say that we didn't plan our Super Tuesday get-together as an Obama event. We support Obama; we've even given him $$. But we didn't ask candidate affiliation before inviting some friends, who invited some friends, and it just so happened that all 10 people who came to Seattlest HQ last night were Obama supporters (except for one girl who backs the Phoenix Suns. She was not a winner). One girl......

According to his blog, NYTimes Op-Ed columnist and Princeton economics professor Paul Krugman is "sick as a dog" today, right before his visit to Town Hall tomorrow night. Krugman, like Bill Greider at Rolling Stone in the Reagan years, has taken up columnistic arms against the flow of disinformation from the White House. Who will tell the people? Krugman, that's who. (Actually Greider will too.) Sick or not, Krugman will be at Town Hall to......

Seattlest left Cooper's Alehouse at 10:40 last night with a brand new bucket, part of our team's prize for coming in 5th place. And we wondered why we'd never managed to check out their trivia night when we lived within walking distance. It was a good quiz. Cooper's quiz is scheduled for 8:45 Tuesday nights, though last night's kicked off at 9:00. It's 40 questions, uncategorized. Teams trade answer sheets for scoring. After about......

Starbucks, give 'em credit, is able to do more than one thing at a time. Mark of maturity, that. The papers are full of its plans to expand into every corner of the globe; this week it's Russia. On the domestic front, meantime, they're promoting a slogan to follow up on last year's "Geography is a Flavor." The new catchphrase: "Coffee is Culinary." Half a step back to the very American notion, articulated by New......

The headline: "White House E-Mail Inquiry Will Widen." The story: how the Bush administration has quite possibly made a major infraction, broken big giant rules, or in the P-I's words, "committed 'extensive' [legal] violations." Remember that whole Alberto Gonzalez thing? Where it was speculated that the Attorney General deliberately fired a bevy of federal attorneys for political reasons, to appease a certain political agenda? There was a moment during all that hoo-ah when someone mentioned......

Man, it's the Beastie Boys thing all over again. We just got the email from Town Hall that Al Gore's appearance at Town Hall this Monday, June 4, is sold out already. Tickets were only $5, but still! Listen to what some lucky (and thrifty) listeners will get to hear about: Al Gore’s fiercely-argued new book, The Assault on Reason, is an indictment of current policy making -- especially the President’s use of power and......

Monday CALL 911! CALL 911!: Political and economic commentator and White House strategist during the Nixon administration, Kevin Phillips talks about his book, American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century. Phillips traces the set of related causes that caused the downfall of historical world powers. That same combination of ills he says -- global over-reach, militant religion, resource problems, and ballooning debt -- is......

Monday AUTHOR, AUTHOR: In Bich Minh Nguyen's memoir, Stealing Buddha's Dinner, a young family escapes from Vietnam shortly before the fall of Saigon and relocates to Grand Rapids, Michigan. "In her recreation of a world populated by family ties, Ritz crackers, and Judy Blume books, she has captured the 1980s with perfection," says Kirkus Reviews. 7:30pm // Elliott Bay // FREE Tuesday ANNE LAMOTT RECOMMENDS: Elizabeth Gilbert talks about her book Eat, Pray, Love:......

Al "Ballard is a city unto itself" Gore and his political campaign came to Key Arena last night. Officially he was here on An Inconvenient Truth business and the majority of his time on stage was spent delivering the world's most famous slideshow, but he also knocked down a few White House anecdotes and dropped his Clinton impersonation. If we're expected to believe that Bill is the Clinton most on his mind, though, we're not......

-Outdoor advertising leviathan Clear Channel got a contract to wrap some Seattle community transit buses in their advertising. -Please disregard all this "landslide in the making" stuff. People hear that crap and they don't bother voting. -The shack that originally housed Gates, Ballmer, Allen, et al. in Bellevue was sold for $38.6 million this week. Meanwhile Jimi Hendrix's old house almost got bulldozed a year ago. -Fundraiser time at KUOW - Let the complaining commence!......

Legendary local baller Nate Robinson went to the White House Correspondents Dinner in May, courtesy of MSNBC. How this slipped our notice until now, we don't know. Well, we do know, it's because we failed you, the reader. As penance, here's a link to more pics of Nate posing with stars--including Ludacris. There you'll also see his fair and balanced assessment of the event: "What a great opportunity to meet some great people. I......

We guarantee that sometime during this week's crucial series against Oakland, Dave Niehaus will employ the phrase "house of horrors" to describe McAfee Coliseum. With good reason. It's where Mariners seasons have traditionally gone to die. Even during the glory season of 1995, the Mariners were not immune to the Coliseum's mojo. In a mid-August game, Mike Blowers made two errors in the ninth inning, leading to two unearned runs and a 3-2 loss......

There's a whole wide world out there, and here's the proof: DCist revels in The University of Maryland's basketball triumphs, marvels at Metro's security strategy, and applauds DC local Katie Couric's new gig. Phillyist is all about the Philadelphia Film Festival. OK, not all about -- they still have time for loitering, underage sex, and random wacky news. LAist would have to send a camera around the world to get shots as bizarre as Katie's......

This week, federal judge John Jones knocked down the mandate from a Pennsylvania school board that their science teachers present Intelligent Design as a valid alternative to evolution in their classrooms. While he was at it, he smacked the Dover School board for being a bunch of disingenuous liars. Scientists, teachers, and intelligent people from all walks of life, religious or otherwise, rejoiced. The Discovery Institute responded with...diatribe. Dr. John West, Associate Director of the......

You may or may not be aware, but Congress is all in a tizzy (repeatedly) over a number of bills either recently passed or currently on the docket, and reconvened earlier this week to try to get all warm and fuzzy before the year ends. Seattlest did some digging and if any of you are even half as confused as we are, we hope this helps. We're going to break these bills down, James......

Wishful thinking has us feeling that Bush’s second term is almost over, which means we’re rapidly approaching the mid-term elections…give or take a few summers. State Republicans are also gearing up for 2006 and a run against Senator Maria Cantwell. Cantwell has been made a target by the Republican Party, who feel that her low profile along with GOP anger over the governor’s race make her vulnerable. Among those who would challenge her next fall......

Seattlest has praised the Seattle Weekly's features section in this space in the past. They had a good string going! Seattlest was in Portland a few weeks ago, though, and being the alt-weekly whores that we are we picked up a copy of the rag down there, Willamette Week. Not a bad paper. The cover story of the issue that was out when we were there was "Good Cop, Bad Cop" about a Portland cop......