Breaking

Yesterday Sound Politics blog announced that the long-running rumor that former Snohomish County Sheriff Rick Bart will run for Congress in the 2nd District is true. Bart has decided to announce his entry into the race next week in Snohomish. That news was confirmed today by Snohomish County GOP Chair Geri Modrell.

With 21% of the precincts reporting, McCain leads Mike Huckabee 47%-22%

Lacey, WA -

A five-piece jazz band kicked out the funky jams while an assembly of Washington State Democratic Activists trickled into the St. Martin's College Pavilion basketball arena last night.  It was the annual crab feed, where paper plates carried the food, brown paper bags held the empty shells, and wooden mallets accompanied each table to smash up the peskiest of claws and legs.

Sea-Tac, WA

George Fearing (D-Pasco) emphasizes Iraq, fair trade, and Washington D.C.'s culture of corruption in discussing why he should be elected to congress from Central Washington's 4th District, a seat currently held by Republican Rep. Doc Hastings.

Chehalis, WA -

The Lewis County Republican Party held their annual Lincoln Day Dinner tonight at Chehalis' Hotel Washington, whose exposed brick walls and collection of Indian motorcycles provided a classy and historic-looking venue for the night's program of food, networking and political speeches from some of the state's top Republican elected officials.  read more »

As February quietly chugs along in the week between the February 9th Presidential caucus and the Primary on the 19th, more and more challengers have announced their candidacy for the state legislature. Whether primary fights or direct partisan challenges, the state's candidate roster has grown significantly here in month of February.

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.

Does Washington provide a blueprint for an Obama nomination?

In an interview on CNN this morning, Governor Mike Huckabee gave a stinging take on the WA GOP caucus call for John McCain. TPM has posted video of the piece, where Huckabee compares the early declaration by Luke Esser to Soviet-era politics. More below the fold.

Clinton now set to visit Seattle, Tacoma and Spokane on Thursday and Friday.