From the "Me neither" file.

Failed Grand Old Palin Tea Party Senate candidate Clint Didier…

"At this moment, I cannot endorse Dino Rossi."

Me neither.

Dear Megan Chuchmach and Matthew Mosk…

If your lede includes the words "Tom DeLay" and doesn't include the words "was convicted," you're writing the wrong story.

Love,

Upper Left

(P.S. - Mr. DeLay, too, is a "disgraced former Speaker." He earned the title. When reporting his conviction, please use it.)

I don't care…

…at least I'd like to think I don't care. I certainly don't want to care. Still, I find myself absent-mindedly wondering what not-Joe the not-plumber thinks about the not-ground zero not-mosque.

From the "You have the right to remain silent" file.

Shorter Howard Dean...

Of course you have free speech. I said so explicitly. Now shut up.

.

The Leg, then…

There are still a few races where the top two primary may create single party ballots for the general, but while combing yesterday's new results to find them I realized that whatever the number may be, it will be dwarfed by the number of single party ballots created by the failure to field Democrats in 21 of the 98 State House races. That number includes seven districts where no Democratic legislative candidate appears on local ballots.

That's seven districts where there's no local candidate making door to door outreach, registering voters, generating turnout. No local Democratic face at candidates forums and editorial boards. No Democratic campaigns for young people just learning about our electoral system to get involved with. No nothing.

Republicans filed candidates in all but 9 seats, leaving only the 36th LD without a Republican on legislative ballots.

It's one more fail for the Democratic Caucus leadership in Olympia, and it hurts all of our campaign and party building efforts.

Locally, the three Democratic candidates nominated by the local Party organization will appear on the November ballot. Representative Maralyn Chase is running for the open State Senate seat, with former Shoreline Councilmember and Mayor Cindy Ryu running for the seat Maralyn is leaving behind. Each outpolled both a Democratic and Republican challenger. The leading vote-getter in the local primary is Representative Ruth Kagi, who is polling over 56% against two candidates in her bid for re-election.

With about 60% of primary voters choosing a Democrat, and given the historical character of the 32nd District, our local ticket looks to be pretty safe in November. There will be a Republican challenger in each race in November, too, though, and the Republicans are out there working.

We have a good ticket. These candidates deserve your support. They have mine.

And we all have work to do.

I'm trying to come up with something interesting…

…to say about the US Senate primary, but so far the results are tediously predictable. It'll be Patty Murray against Dino Rossi, but you knew that last week. Last month, for that matter. Probably could'a guessed last year.

When the rest of the votes from the Puget Sound corridor come in, it'll be interesting to see how close Patty comes to the 50% mark with the traditionally conservative primary electorate, but other than that the results are most interesting as a lead-in to the Sarah Palin scorecard in the upper left last night.

Palin made three endorsements in this state. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is an establishment incumbent, and the safe bet paid off for Sarah last night. John Koster in the 2nd CD is a challenger, but still a known quantity among Republicans in northwest Washington and was likely to come through the primary with or without the Palin seal of approval.

The campaign that really tested the value of a Palin endorsement, of course, was Clint Didier's US Senate bid. She jumped aboard early, while Dino was still picking up pin money on the foreclosure seminar circuit, and Didier played her name for all it was worth. She never appeared in the state on his behalf, though. As far as I know, the only face time he got with the former half a governor was when she summoned him away from the state Republican convention in Vancouver while she had momentarily lit down in the tri-cities. There was a recorded message for a last minute round of robocalls, but I'd imagine it all added up to a lot less than Didier had hoped. At least 22% less, which is how much he trails Rossi for second place as the results stand.

So, what do we know?

With about 80% of the votes on hand counted and an unknown number of votes just arriving or yet to arrive, we don't know everything about the primary outcomes, but we know some things.

We know, for instance, that the anti-incumbent fever we've been hearing about all year hasn't spread to our state. Rick Larsen in the 2nd is the only Democratic member of Congress polling under 50% and even Larsen is leading his Palin-endorsed opponent. He also faced a couple of challengers from the left, and when they're rolled in the Democratic vote clears the 50% threshold handily.

On the Republican side, Dave Reichert's in a similar spot, under 50% with a couple of Republican challengers siphoning off another 10% or so. He'll face Democrat Suzan DelBene, whose 26% isn't an especially encouraging number against an incumbent so mediocre that he lost his traditional endorsement from the Seattle Times. Still, this isn't the General Election electorate, and the campaign's just been engaged. If her primary performance doesn't depress DelBene's fundraising too much, there's still a shot at a Democratic pickup in the 8th.

In the 3rd, Democrat Denny Heck will face off against Republican Jaime Herrera for the seat opened by Brian Bairds retirement. Heck leads in the vote totals, with about 30% in a crowded field. We have a fine candidate and a good chance to hold this one. There's work to do, but there's always work to do.

Locally, my own personal Congressman leads five other candidates (you can't really call them 'challengers,' can you?) with 78.87% percent of the vote. Apparently I'm not the only one who hearts my own personal Congressman.

More later on the US Senate and legislative races.

From the "Since you asked…" file.

A three-fer from Darryl...

Dino Rossi a blatent hypocrite? Shamelessly flip-flopping for political gain? Whodathunk?!

Since you asked, yep, you bet and I woulda.

My ballot's in the mail.

Is yours? Much as I miss my polling place, I exercised my franchise via post. If you're among the majority of voters in the upper left, though, you might not have. Remember, that ballot on the kitchen counter hast to be postmarked by today to be counted.

I don't expect any particular surprises in the results, but I will be watching for districts where our terrible top two primary pairs candidates of the same party on the November ballot. I'll be interested, too, in how turnout in an all mail primary compares to the traditional ballot box + absentee elections.

There are a couple of hot and heavy local races that I'll be weighing in on after the primary, but I've got too many friends, including candidates, on too many sides, namely both, to electioneer for anyone right now. You know the drill - some of my friends are on one side, some are on the other.

I'm standing with my friends.

A reminder…

…from Gail Collins.

We always need to remember that behind almost every great moment in history, there are heroic people doing really boring and frustrating things for a prolonged period of time.

Change is hard. Progress is slow. There's always work to do.

Sorry kids, that's just the way it is.

Chart of the day.

Via Ezra Klein...



Hey, maybe he isn't just as bad as...no, that's crazy talk.

Random ten time.

Here's what the machine decided to listen to. Play 'em if you got 'em...

John Prine - Take The Star Out Of The Window
Steel Wheels - Redwing
Stacey Earle - Must Be Love
The Young Norwegians - Plastic Jesus
Lucy Kaplansky - Return Of The Grievous Angel
Brenton Wood - The Oogum Boogum Song
Lucinda Williams - Positively Fourth Street
Carl Douglas - Kung Fu Fighting
James & Bobby Purify - I'm Your Puppet
Them - It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

An Upper Left landmark.

A third of a million served...



Hey, we takes our landmarks where we finds 'em around here.

From the "Since you asked…" file.

Darryl wonders…

Could it be that while the mainstream media obsesses on the irrational anger of a small minority of right-wing extremists, the American Public is actually noticing that Republicans are hurting America through their policy of total obstructionism?

Since you asked, yes, it certainly could be.

In fact, I'd say it probably is, which is while I've kept my finger pressed firmly on the don't panic button amid all the spring and summer horror stories. I'm guessing come Labor Day, when the non-professional electorate starts to check in to the election, things will start looking objectively brighter for Democrats, though the media narrative may be slow to catch up.

Chart of the day.

From the WaPo, via Howie...



(Go ahead and click it bigger!)

From the "Me too" file.

John Cole...

Personally, I’m not satisfied with the job they are doing (unemployment is horrible, they’ve spent too much time negotiating with Republicans, the drone wars, the civil liberties issues, Lloyd Blankfein is still a free man, etc.), and think there have been some real failings and some real let-downs. But I will belly crawl over broken glass while someone pours lemon juice and rubbing alcohol on me to vote for the Democrats in November.

Myself, as well.

Since no one…

…and certainly not Robert Gibbs, has ever heard me say that Barack Obama is anything like George Bush, an idea which is, in fact, crazy, I figure Gibbs wasn't talking about me. I'm about as liberal a member of the base as you'll find in most precincts, so I don't think he was talking about liberals or the base, either. "Inartful" is probably an apt description of his comments, but the brush he used wasn't really all that broad.

What's kind of surprising is that so many people want to believe he was talking about them.

Some of y'all, frankly, ain't all that.

Me neither, of course.

The clear choice…

…of the extremist wing of a radical party.

Tom Coburn: 'Dino will be an ally'

So much for the notion that there's still a mainstream "Dan Evans wing" in the Republican Party hereabouts.