Peter Goldmark

BLAINE - The two candidates for commisioner of public lands, Republican incumbent Doug Sutherland and Democratic challenger Peter Goldmark, were supposed to debate this morning but something funny happened along the way.

Sutherland never showed up for the debate.

The Seattle Times reports that Sutherland had the time marked incorrectly in his calendar, and was still driving en route to Semiahmoo whe the 11 AM start time elapsed.

The September edition of the Elway Poll shows Gov. Chris Gregoire leading her opponent Dino Rossi, but by how much depends on the description. When identified as "Republican Dino Rossi", Gregoire led by ten points, 51-41, but when respondents were told that their choice was "Dino Rossi, who prefers the GOP Party", he cut the lead to four, 48-44. With the numbers combined Gregoire leads by eight, 50-42.

Each sample contained 225 voters, a statistically insignificant number on their own, but the difference in results is telling. According to Elway, the change in party affiliation had its strongest impact on the level of support for the candidates, with more Democrats "definitely" supporting Gregoire against a Republican Party than a GOP candidate, and more independents "definitely" supporting the GOP candidate compared to the Republican candidate.

On the November ballot, new rules stemming from the "top two" primary allow candidates to select a preferred party. Rossi has indicated that he "prefers the GOP" party and Gregoire "prefers the Democratic" party.

A new poll done by local tracker Stuart Elway shows Gov. Chris Gregoire with a large lead over Republican Dino Rossi. The survey, which took place July 27-31 with a relatively small sample of 405 registered voters, had Gregoire up by a count of 52 percent to 36 percent with 12 percent undecided.

The numbers are good news for the incumbent in part because they show her with more than 50 percent support from voters and a lead that withstands the 5 percent margin of error and according to the Seattle P-I's Joel Connelly, who first reported the results, Gregoire led nearly everywhere in the state.

The good news for Rossi is that this is only one poll, and many recent snapshots have shown a much smaller lead for the governor. But perhaps better still, the Elway poll has Rossi leading in both Kitsap and Pierce Counties, normally Democratic districts that Rossi narrowly won in 2004.

Because of the delayed reporting date for July, in accordance with the seismic changes in the Public Disclosure Commission's website this summer, June's and July's entries in PolitickerWA.com's money races at a glance series have been combined into one post.

The first number listed is contributions, the second number is expenditures and the third number is the difference between the two. Precluding any unusual circumstances, that third number in bold is equal to cash on hand. The candidate with the most cash on hand is listed at the top of each section. Asterisk denotes incumbent.

With the exception of the gubernatorial and attorney general races, in-kind contributions were ignored and significant campaign loans and personal candidate contributions have been noted in parentheses where applicable.

See April's figures here, and May's figures here and the latest number after the jump.

SPOKANE -

Washington's slate of statewide candidates gave speeches this afternoon after becoming the official nominees of the party.

Peter Goldmark, Jason Osgood, and John Ladenburg all spoke on behalf of their candidacy with a few digs at their opponents. Recaps below the fold. 

SPOKANE -

Check out more images from the convention below the jump.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels: Politicker Photo

The 40th Legislative District Democrats held a series of endorsement meetings earlier this week. Members from all three counties, San Juan, Skagit and Whatcom, had their say as to who would be the officially endorsed nominees going into the top two primary in August. Here are the candidates they chose.

40th LD State Senate: Kevin Ranker
40th LD State Rep: Jeff Morris and Dave Quall
Governor: Christine Gregoire
Supreme Court Justice: Mary Fairhurst
State Treasurer: Jim McIntire
Public Lands Commissioner: Peter Goldmark
2nd Congressional District: Rick Larsen

May is the second in a monthly PolitickerWA.com series of the financial status of some of the state's top races.

Here is how things stand as of May 31, 2008. The first number listed is contributions, the second number is expenditures and the third number is the difference between the two. Precluding any unusual circumstances, that third number is equal to cash on hand. The candidate with the most cash on hand is listed at the top of each section.

All numbers below are in the thousands of dollars, unless otherwise noted. See April's figures here.

Washington's State Commissioner of Public Lands, Republican Doug Sutherland, formally began his campaign on Tuesday with events in Bellevue and Spokane sandwiched around the time he spent with John McCain. Now that he is fully on board, he is already touting his bipartisan support.

Sutherland sent out a press release highlighting the endorsements of Republican and Democratic leaders from across the state in the legislature and beyond.