Let’s Offset Clinton, Obama & Biden

Remember a few years ago when carbon offsets were all the rage? Having a wedding: offset your guests travel! Taking a vacation? Go guilt-free, and offset your footprints in the sand.

Of course, people like the Goracle made a mockery of the whole industry, what with their prolific globe-trotting.

Well, now it’s time for another offset of sorts — as D.C. politicians criss cross the country to rescue their favored incumbents.

With your help, we can offset their impact — and tip the momentum in our candidates’ favor!!!

This week, no less than former President Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, and President Obama himself will barnstorm Washington State to try and help bail out Patty Murray. First Lady Michelle Obama will be here next week.

Murray, you may know, was rated the most liberal U.S. Senator by National Journal. Of course, before her, that honor belonged to…that’s right Barack Obama.

Now here’s the deal: Patty is hoping for a PR lift from this White House love-fest. Much of it being done on the public dime, no doubt.

And the brilliant side effects: Stuck in traffic? Deal with it. Late to work? Sorry! Can’t get the kids to soccer? Quit whining, it’s the President, baby!

If you’re fed up, and want to show Clinton, Biden, and Obama that they can’t buy this election for Patty Murray and the Democrats, then fight back!

Donate $25, $50 or $100 to Dino Rossi for U.S. Senate, Jaime Herrera and John Koster for U.S. Congress.

We cannot allow the White House to swoop in and hand this election to the Democrats.

And if it’s close, which it likely will be, our candidates are going to need every dime to fight till election day and perhaps even after (2004 ring a bell?).

Give as generously as you’re able. If you do, we can offset their visits and help our candidates sprint to the finish line.

If you don’t, you’re missing a chance to be part of a once-in-a-generation change in government.

WA-03: Some Local Media Carry Water for Heck

Kathie Durbin and Tony Lystra. Both names you’ll be familiar with if you follow political news in Southwest Washington.

But you might not know that both have also occasionally carried water (enthusiastically) for the retiring Democratic incumbent Brian Baird.

For instance, back when Rep. Baird was describing constituents who opposed a government takeover of health care as “Brown Shirts,” “Lynch Mobs,” and reminiscent of “Timothy McVeigh,” Lystra cast Baird as embattled but not in the wrong.

The Columbian’s archives don’t stretch back far enough now to link to their coverage, but suffice it to say Durbin is not exactly a paragon of unbiased journalism. Read up on NWD’s previous Brian Baird coverage for details.

Now, in the current race to replace Baird, coverage from both The Columbian and The Daily News has tended to swoon over Denny Heck, and have a decidedly negative bent against Herrera.

The latest one-sided hack jobs can be found here, and here. You’ll notice that both pieces pretend to be objective. Except that instead of covering the issues, both writers instead deliver what amounts to cheap political analysis of campaign strategy. They implore readers to forget about the national debt, stagnant economy, and sky-high unemployment for a moment — and instead focus on insider baseball.

You see, it’s OK for Heck to be an Olympia fixture and wealthy businessman who’s self-funding his merry “Give ‘Em Heck” campaign.  But apparently if you’ve ever worked in the other Washington (gasp! and gained relevant experience), Durbin thinks you’re the “career politician.” Not the guy who’s been in the thick of Democratic machine politics for 30 years. Uh-huh.

Of course, in the next breath, Durbin will be only happy to completely discount or marginalize that same Congressional experience. Lame.

Lystra is probably the more redeemable of the two. The TDN story looks more like a botched pitch from Team Heck. He’s behind in the polls, and all his campaign can do is whine about Herrera’s shrewd and strategic campaign schedule.

Stay tuned for more. We’ll be taking apart many more stories as Election Day nears.

WA-03: Herrera Stays Positive in New Ad

Jaime Herrera TV ad — “Different” from Herrera Campaign on Vimeo.

WA-03: AFP Hits Denny Heck on Failed Stimulus

Denny Heck woke up after Primary Night to an attention grabbing ad from Americans for Prosperity. How noticeable was the hit?Hotshot Beltway reporter, Mike Allen, led his popular a.m. newsletter with it today:

State Rep. Jaime Herrera came in a close 2nd place, and will face Heck in the General Election.

Gregoire Breaks the Law to Help Denny Heck

Photo courtesy of the AP.

State PDC regulators are crying foul and again Washington’s 3rd Congressional District is in the national news. It turns out Governor Gregoire isn’t just anointing a candidate to replace the Democrat Brian Baird.  Nope, she is apparently also willing to break state campaign finance law, yet again, in a deliberate attempt to gather all the money she can for the State Democrat establishment’s darling, Denny Heck.

Washington State has a pesky little law that prohibits elected officials from raising money for most candidates while the Legislature is in session. Gregoire played her lawyerly self, speaking through a spokesperson and lambasting the long established rules of the game as “ambiguous.” Funny talk coming from the former Attorney General, who should obviously know better. What’s truly ambiguous is whether Chris Gregoire herself is running for re-election; it was a “campaign spokesperson” who she trotted out to mount a half-hearted response.

Heck is a long time Olympia insider who knows better than to pull something like this. He is either not minding the shop or simply willing to defy the law in his quest to be Congressman. I am not surprised Governor Gregoire also wrangled Washington State Insurance Commish Mike Kreidler to sign the fundraising email—afterall, friends are scarce for the Guv in Olympia these days.

What this all boils down to is our Governor and Insurance Commissioner appear willing to sidestep campaign finance laws. That is sure to encourage more confidence and trust in government. But hey, if you’re on your way up or out, why not bend or break the rules, right?

For those keeping track, Gregoire is a repeat offender when it comes to campaign finance law; just Google “Gregoire+PDC.”