More fallout from Obama’s Hanford gaffe

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama created a minor media storm, very minor compared to Rev. Wright for instance, on Sunday in Pendleton, Oregon when he confessed at a campaign question and answer session that he was unaware of the problem with the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Cleaning up Hanford, which has required billions of dollars in federal funding and whose nuclear waste has the potential to dramatically impact the region if it escapes, is one of America's premier environmental issues.

A few days later, Washington Republicans continue to attempt to make Obama's foible a campaign issue here in the state. On Tuesday Washington State Republican Party Chair Luke Esser wrote a letter to supporters attempting to raise money on the issue.

The letter links to a youtube video clip that the King County GOP uploaded from John McCain's recent trip to North Bend to participate in a roundtable discussion of environmental issues where he discusses Hanford and other nuclear energy details for over four minutes.

It also ties Obama to Gov. Chris Gregoire, insinuating that their political relationship is not based on improving Washington, but rather is related to money and politics.

"Wouldn't you think that just maybe as our governor, Christine Gregoire would have discussed Hanford with Obama, perhaps in one of the many calls the candidate reportedly made while courting Gregoire as a superdelegate?" Esser asked. "It's not too much of a stretch to speculate that they discussed more pressing business - like lining up just how much money Obama would help raise for Gregoire this year."

For more on the video front, perhaps foreshadowing television advertising in the state this fall, MoveRed.org, the youth faction of the King County Republicans who are very active on youtube, have also created a video splicing footage of Obama's answer in Pendleton with that of McCain's in North Bend.

The issue has reached beyond partisan politics, too. On Tuesday, the Tri-City Herald's executive editor Ken Robertson wrote an editorial in his paper baffled by Obama's lack of knowledge on the Hanford issue given its history with the state of Illinois, and says he understands why Washington's senior Sen. Patty Murray endorsed Hillary Clinton.

In an editorial board at the Herald earlier this year, she said she was supporting Clinton because she was "educated" about such Northwest issues as Hanford funding, port and border security and transportation issues.

"I want someone in the White House I will not have to retrain," Murray told the editorial board.

After Obama's appearance Sunday, it's clear she was speaking the truth.

Local Democrats maintain that Obama's policies on Hanford cleanup, despite his ignorance of the issue, would be better suited for the region based on ideology and general judgment. But if Republicans have their way, his comments will give Washington voters pause come November.