Jay Inslee

Washington's Congressional delegation spoke out in favor of today's decision by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' decision to re-open the bidding process for the Air Force KC-767 tankers. Airbus had won the initial contract, which would have cost the state's economy a significant amount of money, but the process was discovered to be flawed by the Government Accountability Office.

Representatives Brian Baird (D-03), Doc Hastings (D-04) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (D-05) have yet to speak on the matter. Links to and excerpts from the rest of the state's elected officials statements are below.

Washington's full delegation, with the exception of Rep. Brian Baird (D-Vancouver) spoke out on the Government Accountability Office's decision today to uphold the protest against the decision making process that led to a US Air Force tanker contract to go to Airbus over Boeing earlier this year.

The group unanimously celebrated the GAO's decision because of initial unfairness in the decision making process, and used their statements as an I-told-you-so to those who supported and helped usher the deal through.

"It has been clear all along that the process was flawed, as evidenced by the clear recommendations made by the GAO," said Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Auburn). "This is a great victory for Boeing, Washington state and every American who values our nation's economic and homeland security."

Read all available statements below the jump.

Presidents have (very) occassionaly favored Washingtonians with prominent appointments. Our senators' replies to whether they wanted to be vice president led us to look into other Washingtonians in presidential administrations.

Washington's superdelegate count stands at five for Obama, five for Clinton and seven undecided. State Republican deciders may know something the Democrats don't know, since they've been campaigning against Obama, without a single mention on Clinton in recent letters. The Republican decidee is coming to town, and you can meet him for dinner for only $33,100.

We like to complain about gas prices. We also like to drive. On Earth Day Eve, we ought to recognize both that gas prices will continue to go up, and that we will continue to drive just as much as before.

By bringing environmentalists into the reality-based community, we can help them refocus their goals to support better-engineered cars that burn cleaner fuels.  read more »

WEST SEATTLE -

There appears to be approximately 1000 Democrats in attendance here at the West Seattle High School gymnasium, but that is a rough estimate. It is the standard convention mix of interest groups, delegates and, of course, candidates.

Republican Larry Ishmael, who ran unsuccessfully for the same 1st District seat he is now seeking against Rep. Jay Inslee in 2006, got his start in politics about five years ago with the help of a prominent local pol. In 2002 and his family moved back from Brazil, where they had been living for three years. Upon their return, his wife began teaching in the Issaquah School District, which became embroiled in a long teacher's strike.

"I got this call out of the blue from a guy named Dino Rossi, and I'd never met him before," Ishmael recalled. "Of course I'd heard of him, he was my State Senator, and basically he encouraged me to run for school board."

A couple of GOP endorsements to report on today, first Larry Ishmael (R-Kirkland) received the backing of influential pastor The Rev. Dr. Joseph Fuiten for his 1st District challenge to Rep. Jay Inslee.  read more »

In new congressional power rankings released this week, Washington's delegation ranked 20th out of 50 states led by Rep. Norm Dicks and Sen. Patty Murray in the House and Senate, respectively.  read more »

Yesterday the League of Conservation Voters, an interest group that calls itself the “independent voice for the environment,” released its annual congressional scorecard. These ratings are based on the environmental legislation in the House and Senate from the past year. The LCV makes a judgment on what they consider to be the environmentally friendly position on each bill, and assigns a plus or a minus to each vote, with absences considered a negative.