News Round-Up

> The "Swift Boat Boys" are back

That fun-loving group of super-rich good ol' boys who made themselves famous by funding the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" attack ads against John Kerry four years ago are back, this time with $3 million worth of sleazy ads attacking Barack Obama. Unlike Kerry, Obama is firing right back. Meanwhile, Chris McGann of the Seattle P-I writes that these same guys are also contributing heavily to Dino Rossi's campaign.

> Speaking of independent expenditures...

Little ol' WFSE made the front page of the Seattle P-I. Oh well. Somebody's got to stand up to the BIAW. It might as well be us.

> Current party identification trends favor Democrats

The Pew Research Center For the People & the Press just released a new analysis that demonstrates "the Democratic Party's advantage in party identification remains as large as it has been over the past two decades..." The Pew Research Center is a highly-regarded, nonpartisan organization that has been tracking voter trends for decades, and I have a lot of respect for their work.

> It's been an up-and-down couple of weeks for Rep. Dan Roach

Our good friend, Rep. Dan Roach, had an eventful month. He was in Beijing, where he watched his wife, Melanie, compete in weight-lifting at the Olympics. Then he was welcomed home with an order to repay his campaign fund for improper reimbursements. Still, Melanie's performance was an incredible story. We are all real proud of her (and Dan, too).

> Fun stuff from HorsesAss.org

After reviewing the early primary election returns, David Goldstein brags that "Gregoire has thus far increased her percentage of the vote in 23 of 39 counties..." Goldy also thinks "...Dino Rossi and the Republicans are cheating."

> The hiring freeze is on the move

The Seattle Times reports the Snohomish County Council "...ordered a hiring freeze for all county employees in response to a projected $9 million budget shortfall in 2009." No doubt the Rossi camp will soon issue a press release blaming the county's budget problems on the irresponsible spending by those tax-and-spend liberals that have been running Snohomish County all these years.

> Following up on "Video-Gate"

Lots of people have been having fun with the whole fracas about off-duty Seattle police officers roughing up a Democratic cameraman at a Rossi press conference. (Note: I first commented on the story here, and followed it up with what I thought was a highly amusing rebuttal here.) Since then, Richard Roesler of the Spokesman Review advised candidates that "unless you plan on committing felonies or appearing in blackface, it's probably a good idea to welcome the reporter" to your events. It appears Brad Shannon of the Olympian was barred from attending a Rossi fundraiser in Olympia; and two reporters from the Stranger were kicked out of Terry Bergeson's primary election party, undoubtedly in retaliation for the debacle that occurred when the Stranger made Bergeson try to answer a couple of WASL questions.

> Following up on the House Democrats' fundraising advantage

On Aug. 11, I linked to an article posted on the conservative blog Sound Politics complaining about how the House Democrats have a huge fundraising advantage over the House Republicans. Since then, Chris Mulick of the Tri-City Herald reported "...in the key House races that will determine who gains and who loses seats [House] Republicans figure to be heavily outspent."

> Doesn't anybody in Washington DC care about the middle class?

Yes, that's a rhetorical question. Still, the Washington Post recently reported on a study conducted by the Commonwealth Fund that concludes "a perfect storm of negative economic trends is battering working families across the United States." Of course, we didn't need a study to tell us that.

-- Dennis