WA-02: Trailing in the Polls, Larsen Goes on the Attack

Extended coverage of the Larsen vs. Koster debate is available here.

WA-02: Rick Larsen’s Tea Party Video Exposed

We knew it was coming, Rick Larsen is finally called to task:

See our earlier reporting here, and here.

Mak Looks at Washington’s Swing Districts

Day Two of Larsen’s Spectacular Video Gaffe

Rick Larsen’s in-house attack ad painting the Tea Party as racist whackjobs is still up.

Why is that surprising?

Because the ad was widely derided today in the mainstream, conservative, and liberal media.

Every hour the ad stays up, Larsen faces an increasingly difficult situation.  Pull an ad that’s undermining his credibility, but in so doing energize his opponent further, or leave it up, continue to lose “face,” with the local media and potentially become a national Tea Party target.

Larsen should calculate quickly and carefully.

Rick Larsen Picks a Fight with the Tea Party

And it’s not pretty:

This video (h/t: SoundPolitics.com) seems to signal a leftward lurch in Larsen’s re-election strategy. To be sure, it wasn’t all that long ago that Democratic incumbents like Brian Baird, Adam Smith, and Jay Inslee would go to great pains to play up their “moderate” credentials.

The above, however, is more reminiscent of a segment on MSNBC — or something scripted with the help of the increasingly notorious JournoListers.

Whatever the thinking behind the ad, something tells us Rick Larsen just put a down payment on an interesting August recess…