Luke Esser

NORTH BEND -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain participated in a roundtable discussion on environmental issues today at the Cedar River Watershed Education Center in Eastern King County. McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona, was joined by a wide slate of interested parties, ranging from Public Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland to REI CEO Sally Jewel, former Gov. Dan Evans and Mercer Island City Councilman Steve Litzow along with a handful of local business and non-profit group leaders.

Local Republicans in attendance at the event included Attorney General Rob McKenna, who is McCain's state chair, former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, former Secretary of State Ralph Munro, state Sen. Cheryl Pflug and party Chairman Luke Esser. The first thing off their tongues was their excitement at having such a prominent national figure in town.

Sen. John McCain leads a roundtable discussion

At least not according to the national GOP. Postman and State Republican Chair Luke Esser note that "we're not guaranteed to get anything" out of the $31,000 per person Victory Dinner with John McCain. Instead the eastside cash will flow to states that national Republicans think will be battleground states in November. Read: not Washington.

Washington state Republicans are getting some publicity help from a higher source. The Republican National Committee sent out an e-mail to media today urging them to check out the Washington State Republican Party's latest attack video.

This spot goes after 8th District Democratic candidate Darcy Burner by painting her as inexperienced and inappropriate. It begins with a black screen and text that reads, "Darcy Burner is running for Congress again...with the same thin resume voters rejected in 2006." This comes just two days after her opponent, Rep. Dave Reichert, was listed by Roll Call as one of the ten most endangered incumbents in Congress.

The Kitsap Sun has the news from the Kitsap County Republican Convention, which took place Saturday. Despite the absence of the scheduled keynote speaker, Republican Party Chair Luke Esser, the attending candidates were hopeful of their chances to gain seats in November.

Chris Mulick at the TCH has learned that Washington State Republican Party Chair Luke Esser has filed a complaint with the state Public Disclosure Commission alleging that Governor Chris Gregoire illegally used state funds for her re-election efforts.

The Supreme Court decision from yesterday to uphold I-872 does not merely pertain to theoretical party rights. It also has a direct effect on the actions of party power brokers and candidates relative to what they do and say, and how they allocate their resources between the primary and the general elections. This will be especially true in the heavily partisan areas of the state that stand to promote two candidates from the same party.

Reacting to a video put out by the state Democratic Party last week calling on Dino Rossi to repudiate his statements on Gov. Chris Gregoire's flood relief plans, the Republican Party is asking the Democrats to take it back.  read more »

RITZVILLE -

Adams County Republicans met Saturday night in Ritzville for their annual Lincoln dinner at the American Legion Memorial Building.  All press in attendance from outside of Adams County were barred from the proceedings, but folks leaving the dinner were pleased with the goings-on inside.  read more »

As Mike Hucakbee struggles to remain relevant in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, GOP State Chairman Luke Esser continues to be on the hot seat. Huckabee has been critical of Esser’s decision to leave about 13% of the GOP primary vote uncounted – a move that assured John McCain of a victory in the Washington caucuses. There is no evidence that a complete count would have changed the results – Esser is viewed as a fair kind of guy and local insiders don’t think he had any intention of playing games. But still, this isn’t the kind of national press Esser wants for Washington.

State Republican Party Chair Luke Esser, under fire over the weekend by some supporters for his Saturday evening call of the state caucus for John McCain, released a letter today addressing the situation.