There are 12 weeks until Election Day, and 12 issues in our state's gubernatorial race (13 if you count Eastern Washington's concerns). Each week we'll be taking an award-winning look at where the candidates stand. Rossi: His detractors claim that he's a Bush model global warming denier. Well Mr. Rossi, if there's no such thing as climate change, how do you explain the crap weather we've been getting the last few years? He's probably......

Chasing last week's patriotic cocktail (generically in support of the US Olympics team), this week brings a shot for Barack Obama. It comes from longtime restaurant impressario Jackie Roberts of The Pink Door: 2 oz. Crater Lake Vodka (hand crafted American vodka from Oregon) WHY? Because he loves America 2 oz. Freshly pressed grape juice WHY? Because he's fresh! 1/2 oz. cointreau WHY? Because he has a sweet side 1/2 oz. freshly pressed lemon juice......

There are 13 weeks until Election Day, and 13 issues in our state's gubernatorial race (14 if you count Eastern Washington's concerns). Each week we'll be taking an award-winning look at where the candidates stand. This Week: Small Business. Gregoire: She will continue to help business owners. Gregoire Website: “[Washington is the] Fourth best state for starting a business.” Rossi: He will do more to help small businesses owners. Rossi Website: “Washington has one of......

Throughout the campaign we have been gathering the top political writers in the country, and asking them to discuss the presidential race. Today they discuss the media’s role in American politics. Seattlest: How do you feel the media has covered this year’s campaign? Jeff (NPR): I'm still waiting for the shoe to drop on the media's coverage of the anointed one, Barack Obama. He's like a perfect storm of taboo topics. I remember watching Daily......

Not that kind of bathhouse. Our sources tell us that Governor Gregoire will be doing a boat tour of Puget Sound tomorrow and Friday in her quest to remind people she's a better option than Dino Rossi. Her Seattle stop will be at the Golden Gardens Bath House at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon. Not really the greatest time for a high-yield political rally, considering it's Way Out There, and people work and all. But it's a......

The great folks at Seattle Transit Blog tipped us to this month's yet another audit conducted on Sound Transit. Independent auditor KPMG LLP gave the agency high marks. Since the corrupt private sector is naturally suspect, we're glad that this week's audit comes on the heels of a previous one released in January by State Auditor Brian Sonntag. But fear not, Eyman. As the Seattle PI reported back in May, the State is planning......

POLITICALLY CRAFTY: If you're a Washingtonian for Obama and you love arts and crafts, you'll love making buttons for Obama. The buttons you make will be passed out locally at voter registration and special events, and in communities as far away as West Virginia. Make a difference with a small piece of metal. 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. // Vivace Espresso // 901 East Denny Way // FREE JOB HUNTING/LIFE SEARCHING: Richard Bolles, author......

Actually the weirdest part of the evening at Town Hall came during the Q&A, when someone asked cognitive linguistics professor George Lakoff to talk about the campaign, cognitive-linguistically speaking. Lakoff started talking off the top of his head about how John McCain is running on character, but what about these rumors of him committing an act of treason as a POW? Our mind boggled a bit so we can't quote the rest, but it got......

">Throughout the campaign we have been gathering the top political writers in the country, and asking them to discuss the presidential race. Today they discuss the end of the Democratic primary, Senator Clinton's future, and a brief look at the general. Seattlest: It's been a very eventful week, with Senator Obama wrapping up the nomination and Senator Clinton set to end her campaign, where do you see the race going now? Ryan (Time Magazine): Finally.......

Over the past year and a half or so of Hillary Clinton's hugely historic run for the presidency, we've been thoroughly impressed with the legacy she's left as the first of her kind. She's undoubtedly owned every single debate—except for that one where Edwards came alive for a minute and sounded like a real person who had more going for him than being the son of a mill worker. She made sure health care......

TALK ABOUT YOUR HEALTH: Founder of Bastyr University and chief science officer for Metagenetics, Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D., thinks we should be focusing on "biochemical individuality derived from genetic and environmental differences." Seems practical enough. He'll be speaking on the matter tonight and, if you're interested in the ongoing debate about how to fix our healthcare system, you should check out his talk, entitled Healthcare Reform 2008: Creating a True Health Care System. 7:30 p.m. //......

We'll be the first to admit Hillary Clinton's embarrassing statement last week (and other occasions), when she recalled RFK's assassination in June of 1968 as an example of things that can happen late in a campaign. We all know there's a possibility the first viable black presidential candidate could get shot. It's been talked about and analyzed and discussed (and, yes, joked about by the other party). But, somehow, to hear another Democratic candidate......

We think this counts as "writing on both sides of your brain." Starting tonight and running through June 1 at CHAC is one of the more unusual solo performer shows we've heard of: former Washington State Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn (a theater major, natch) has written a play about her experience wallowing in the mud of the election politics. Granted, the wallowing was not her idea--the mud was pumped in from out of state--but you......

Only a few more states now. Tonight Kentucky and our downstairs roommate Oregon will have their voice spun. Wouldn't candidates save a whole bunch of time, money, and fuel if primaries were held geographically? Plus the media could label each night like they do with the Potomac Primary. Washington, Oregon, and Idaho could be Sasquatch Saturday. Senator Clinton should take the Bluegrass State for certain reasons, and Senator Obama will win Oregon for other......

Last week Seattlest sent us down to North Carolina to find out how people in that crucial state feel about Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and being the focus of the national media. During our forty-five minute lay-over at Charlotte's Douglas Airport, we spoke with people of all races, ages, and height. At "The Official NASCAR Gift Shop," a young Caucasian woman named Sally was neatly stacking hats. Was she one of the many Democratic voters......

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's controversial pastor and friend, gave a widely criticized speech yesterday on Black Liberation Theology, patriotism, and his relationship with Barack Obama. Obama gave a press conference of his own today, saying he's "outraged" at Rev. Wright's "appalling" comments. He emphasized that Rev. Wright was never his "spiritual advisor," though the pastor married the Senator and his wife and prayed with them the day Obama announced his presidential candidacy. Some......

Tomorrow is the day that the delegates and alternates we elected in last month's caucuses will get together and go through the whole thing all over again. Wheeeee! You don't have to be a delegate or alternate to attend, so if you're as transfixed with the process as we are, feel free to show up. If you don't know where to go, you can find your legislative district caucusing location here. It starts at......

POLITICS: Samantha Power (where have we heard that name before?), a professor at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, is in town Friday night to discuss her book, Chasing the Flame. It's about the 2003 death of UN High Commissioner Sergio Vieira de Mello in Iraq, and how we might better deal with the challenges of religious extremism, refugees, terrorism, and ethnic struggle. She also wrote a book on genocide, A Problem from......

Five years ago today, this Seattlest contributor was sitting in a coffeeshop in Eugene, Oregon, reading the paper about the beginning of the invasion of Iraq. There was something strange and distant about the whole thing, and not just the strangeness and dislocation that every civilian sipping coffee and reading about the scarier facets of the world has: it was also strangely misunderstood, a daring adventure undertaken for reasons no one fully understood. Five......

It's an election year, which means it's time again for Democrats in this part of Western Washington to get all excited about the opportunity to flip the 8th Congressional District into our column. That's right. For the next few months, we will be told to believe that the Eastside district's trend toward a more liberal stance will be completed this year and that this time, Microsoft Millionaire Darcy Burner will actually beat Rep. Dave "I'm......

Geraldine Ferraro, who claims that a black guy named Barack Obama has an advantage in running for president in America, something pretty similar to what she said about Jesse Jackson in 1988, was reluctantly shit-canned by the Clinton campaign. Presumably for not being negative enough. Luckily for us, Ferraro is a huge Husky basketball fan and agreed to share her thoughts on UDub's opening round loss 84-81 loss to Cal in the Pac Ten Tournament.......

In the New Yorker's Talk of the Town this week, they mention the IdreamofHillaryIdreamofBarack website, at which people who have dreamed of either candidate are invited to share what went down (and recently, for balance, McCain dreamers are invited to contribute, too). It's pretty much what you'd expect, but the sole Seattle mention so far is disheartening. It doesn't say if the contributor is from Seattle or not, but either way, is this really how......

...is still prostitution ring free.......

Over at the Slog, they've tossed some fresh meat to the slavering Obama and Clinton hounds: video of Clinton repeating three or four times that she and McCain have a lifetime of experience to draw upon, while Obama has "a speech he made in 2002." Which makes this TIME article about the value of experience especially topical:[Anders] Ericsson's primary finding is that rather than mere experience or even raw talent, it is dedicated, slogging, generally......

Tonight is the fifth in the Do-or-Die/Must-Win primary series that will hopefully be over by the Olympics. Texas and Ohio are the only states to care about, mainly because Vermont and Rhode Island haven't carried any clout since they both went for John Adams. So if you're not heading down to the Old Pequilar for Quiz Night, or over to Neumos for British Sea Power, why not turn on the TV and watch as......

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......

According to our current addiction, the Democratic Convention Watch blog, some less than stellar reporting created confusion over the status of Rep. Jay Inslee's endorsement of Clinton. Inslee, who represents Washington's 1st Congressional District (Bainbridge Island, Kitsap Peninsula, north King County and parts of Snohomish County) is a super delegate. As we all know by now, the super delegates could be the ones to decide the nomination this year if the pledged delegate counts......

We respectfully disagree with our colleagues. Having gone into our second caucus as undecideds, we emerged firmly decided: the caucus stinks. And we weren't even invested in any candidate this time around. The Slog's Erica Barnett makes a good case against it. We'll concede that it was nice to see some neighbors; however, we don't really care to meet our neighbors in this particular context. Block parties, barbeques, chats across the fence, and pleasantries......

Some much-needed clarification on the primary/caucus fiasco: Washington holds both caucuses and a primary in order to decide how to allocate its delegates for the presidential candidates. We hope you were able to make it to your caucus on Saturday to cast your vote for the Democratic/Republican presidential candidate of your choice. You should have picked a party, gone to the designated caucus location for your precinct, and written in your choice next to......

As a brain-dead "undecided," we were naturally curious when we heard the Implicit Association Test people had set up a Presidential Candidates Test. It takes about 10 minutes, and purports to measure your neurological affinity for Clinton, Obama, Huckabee, and McCain (or little pictures of them). As we understand it, these kinds of tests look for delays in "implicit cognition," deep-rooted neurological associations you aren't usually aware of -- it's just the way the world......