An interesting little story seems to be unfolding surrounding Obama's choice to head the CIA: Leon Panetta. Obama announced the choice yesterday to the surprise of many. Panetta has been a strong critic of Bush Administration policies on interrogation. The individual most surprised by the pick appears to be Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). Feinstein is very publicly questioning the pick, stating that she thinks Panetta doesn't have the right kind of experience to do the job. Outgoing Chair Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) is making similar noise. But there's another who serves on the Intelligence Committee who is giving...

Salem businessman Solomon Yue, a longtime Republican National Committee member from Oregon, is gaining attention on the national political stage these days. The Oregonian/Stephanie Yao/2006Solomon Yue Yue is playing the sidekick to Jim Bopp, an RNC committeeman from Indiana, who...

I'm sure even the KGB station chief in Washington, D.C. is mulling this one over: Why did Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the incoming chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the No. 2 Democrat on the committee,...

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Despite the tears and rending of garments from the left Al Franken has not actually won the Senate seat just yet. As this statement from the Minnesota Sec State Mark Ritchie makes clear.
Two months...

We are not sure what it is going to be, however Gov. Christine Gregoire secretly flew to Washington DC yesterday and is planning a big announcement this morning.

Richard Roesler of the Spokesman...

Here in Washington State Tim Eyman is back with another ballot initiative.
OLYMPIA -- Professional initiative promoter Tim Eyman kicked off the 2009 ballot-measure campaigns today, introducing a plan...

If you want to see Jeff Merkley's swearing-in tomorrow, CSPAN2 will cover it live. The ceremony gets underway at 9AM Pacific Time and is scheduled to run for about an hour. What you won't see is a swearing in ceremony for a bunch of other potential Senators who either have yet to have their victory sealed or their appointment completed. Or maybe they'll just be a little late to the party. Some of this stuff has eroded what little confidence I had in Harry Reid's political ability. He's been a disaster lately. In Minnesota, Al Franken was the confirmed winner...

What's going on with newly re-elected Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire? This just came in from Associated Press: Gov. Chris Gregoire is out of state, but her office won't say where she is. Gregoire was set to be the keynote speaker...

Just before the Christmas break, I blogged about the hundred-plus New York economists who wrote to their governor rejecting his cut services-first approach to balancing the state budget. They argued that such a move would exacerbate the economic downturn while harming vulnerable New Yorkers. A better option, they said, would be to raise taxes on those with high incomes. Yesterday, The New York Times elevated the “raise taxes, don’t cut services first” argument to the national level. The Times’ editorial (PDF) was addressed to the incoming Obama administration, urging it to stick to its campaign promise to raise taxes on...