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Posts published in “Day: July 26, 2008”

Pam Roach in China

July 26, 2008
Pam Roach

Pam Roach

If you're a Washingtonian, your top means of following the Olympics in Beijing is here: State Senator Pam Roach is about to start blogging from China.

No doubt she (and family; fellow legislator and son Dan Roach will also be there) will be simply taking in events, but she's also there on an official mission:

"Representing Gov. Gregoire, on August 7th I will present the leaders of Sichuan Province, our sister state, with the promise of a new, privately-funded school building. Chengdu was largely spared, but the very poor rural area was hard hit. Hundreds of schools will be rebuilt."

If you've followed the senator's many adventures in and around Olympia, you'll know: Must-read for the days ahead.

Independence and external influence

July 26, 2008

In most places around this country, the political facts as they now line up in Idaho's 1st district would mean highly probable catastrophe for Republican incumbent Bill Sali. Here we have a Republican incumbent massively behind in the campaign finance race, rarely a positive sign. (By one analysis, only three House races in the country put an incumbent at a greater financial disadvantage.) The Democratic nominee, Walt Minnick, has been running an energetic and (from all we've seen) a capable and visible campaign, on top of that ace fundraising. Sali recently has delivered himself of sundry quotes and votes (timber funds and Madicare among others) that offer great material for the opposition. And this is, again, about as strong a year for Democrats as this nation has seen in a generation.

As matters sit, though, we still think Sali has the odds. The reasons have to do not with the candidates or the campaigns, but with the voters.

You can get some of this from a post by Dennis Mansfield, himself (in 2000) a former candidate for the Republican nomination in the 1st district. Writing in part about the announcement of a planned $350,000 ad buy in support of Minnick by national Democrats, Mansfield had some thoughts: (more…)