More free media to the frontrunners

The Daily Olympian reports a low turnout for the Thurston County GOP convention. But Mike! showed up and claimed credit for getting Ted Stevens to back down on oil tankers in the Sound. Meanwhile Maria! got her 15 minutes on Face The Nation to advocate for government oversight of the oil market.

Anybody know what Wilson, Klippert, Green, Dixon or Guthrie have to say about the price of gasoline?

Didn't think so...

Maybe Cantwell is onto something

The News Tribune reports the recent rise in oil prices is the result of market manipulation by the major oil companies.

According to Tim Hamilton, a lobbyist for independent gas station owners: "The large oil companies have driven independent refiners out of business, used the commodity markets to drive up the price of crude in a "paper game" that has nothing to do with prices, and are exporting Alaskan crude oil and gasoline from Washington state refineries to places like Chile and South Korea to keep domestic supplies tight and prices high."

Meanwhile, of course, McGavick accuses Cantwell, who served several years on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, of blocking exploration and drilling efforts.

Methinks there is probably some truth on both sides of the issue.

Rs crow over Cantwell missteps

After running a recap of recent problems in the Cantwell camp, the RedState blog openly speculates that the Rs will pick up a seat in the Senate, that seat being Cantwell's of course. Never mind the Rs are vulnerable in several other states.

CQPolitics.com Issue of the Week: Gasoline Prices

These quotes are from CQPolitics.com:

"Skyrocketing fuel prices pose a grave danger to the American economy. The cost of gas in our state has jumped 60 cents per gallon since January. This is nothing more than a tax imposed on our economy by oil companies. American consumers deserve to know what's behind these prices. They deserve the truth and they deserve reassurance that the federal government isn't going to stand by and allow Enron-style profiteers to pick their pockets every time they fill up at the gas pump."
- Maria Cantwell

"At a very basic level, in the short term, this is a simple supply and demand issue. While we are dependent on oil, we must increase supply, and we must do it domestically. In the past five years, our state has seen no progress at the pump. Investigating possible price gouging by the oil companies is definitely something that should be done, but it certainly isn't a strategy for increasing supply or bringing down cost in the near future. ... Unfortunately, this very real issue continues to be treated as a political tool back east. Pointing fingers is not a strategy for solving this problem. Instead, our leaders in D.C. need to focus on making as much progress domestically as possible."
- Mike McGavick

Well, this sounds to me like the subtext is demagoguery vs tankers in the Sound.

Some choice.

Peace, love and happiness at Cantwell's office

The Stranger reports an anti-war sit-in at Cantwell's Seattle office, earning an opportunity to hear the Senator's "sugar coated bullshit" and to sleep on the floor of the conference room.

Stop, hey, what's that sound? ZZzzzzz.

Ds take a swipe at McGavick

Well, now, the Democrats claim SAFECO gave McGavick some illegal funds as part of a "golden parachute" on leaving his job with the insurance company.

Uh, when I last checked, McGavick was not putting his own money into his campaign. So where is the connection? Or is it that the Ds know full well that the FEC complaint is frivolous, and filed it merely to call attention to the massive size of the severance package?

Note, neither Maria nor her campaign are involved in this story. The complaint was filed by state Democratic Party boss Dwight Pelz.

Wilson claims he can beat both Cantwell and McGavick

Former Libertarian and former Green Mark Wilson is running "to keep the seat for the Democrats in a Republican led federal government."

No, really. See, its like this. Cantwell lost her liberal base by voting for the Iraq War and the Patriot Act, say Wilson supporters. Wilson thinks he can reclaim that base and thus beat McGavick. This is a "blue state" after all. So far he's raised $9,800. Cantwell has raised 8 million.

The Olympian reports Wilson as saying: "Retaining this seat is the unified goal.... But I can reach across to Greens and Libertarians and even disaffected Republicans."

Methinks the voters will have to look long and hard to see his hand.

Dixon missteps again ... or does he?

According to The Stranger Aaron Dixon's campaign flyer handed out at his kickoff rally claimed the endorsement of Sheley Secrest, new president of the Seattle chapter of the NAACP. "But Secrest says that Dixon's campaign did not have her permission and she did not speak at the rally. As a registered nonprofit, the NAACP cannot make campaign endorsements."

But that may not matter. According to the blog, Dissident Voice "Dixon's rousing kick-off campaign rally drew a large crowd of Black, White and Brown highly disaffected left-leaning voters who share disdain for both the Republican and the Democratic Parties. This was not a placid Green Party convention of polite counter-culturists, but a convocation of angry energy from many strata of society that could, finally, one day, seed a real alternative politics."

The "somnolent campaign" kicks into neutral

Well, the Seattle Times finally admits the Cantwell-McGavick contest is "somnolent." After all we ARE talking about varying degrees of "moderate," aren't we? Yawn. Zzzzz.

And, well, it's OK to talk about these guys, right?--because these are THE DEMOCRATIC and THE REPUBLICAN candidates, by gosh! Oh, and never mind the "perennial candidates" (i.e., the minor party candidates) who never get the time of day from any major media outlet. Never mind that these others might actually have something to contribute to the debate over national policy. Never mind they might spice up an otherwise dull race!

Well, alrighty then! Let's all gather around the campfire, sing God Bless America, and pay homage to the great two-party system, the system that brings us ho-hum candidates, the system that actually fears new ideas, because new ideas generally don't make good sound bites!

Cantwell's management questioned

The wildly liberal Seattle Stranger took another swipe at Cantwell, noting that McGavick hires local talent and Cantwell taps the D.C. worker pool. This may not seem like a big deal, but the Stranger points out locals would have known that Garfield High was not the place to hold a rally last month. The rag even throws a bone to the Dixon campaign, noting that the Iraq War is Cantwell's Achille's heel and Dixon is an anti-war candidate. Well, the recently announced Libertarian candidate, Bruce Guthrie of Bellingham, is also an anti-war candidate.

So, its begining to look like the Senate race could well be a referendum on the war. Stay tuned.

Cantwell still ahead by 10

According to the Strategic Vision Political poll taken at the end of March, Cantwell is leading McGavick 49% to 39%. The other 12% are "Undecided." Never mind that anybody else is in the race.

So, what would the poll show if Mark Wilson, C. Mark Greene, Brad Klippert and Aaron Dixon were listed? Whose numbers would drop off, Cantwell's or McGavick's? Would the "Undecided" segment go up or down?

Seems to me, any poll that includes only the so-called front runners is not only unreliable, but arguably is nothing but a "push poll" for the status quo.

The gloves are off...

It didn't take long for McGavick to fudge his clean campaign promise. He took a swipe at Cantwell while defending his Alaska aid. And of course, to no one's surprise, the Ds responded in kind.

The public buys into this gibberish, year in, year out, assuming that a vote for a third party is "wasted." Methinks a vote for the same old stuff is "wasted."

Meanwhile the Republicans are mustering their troups

While the lefties are fighting amongst themselves about whether to support Cantwell Oil money in Alaska lines up and V.P. Dick Cheney confirms his campaign stop in Spokane on behalf of you know who. Meanwhile the Washington Times accuses the Democratic Party of being the real 'party of the rich', noting amoung other things, that seven of the top ten US Senate campaign fundraisers are Democrats, including Cantwell (who pegs at #5). So, ah, lessee, where is the "liberal media"? Why, defending Cantwell's voting record, of course!

Aaron Dixon's Voting Record (redux)

Once again Aaron Dixon's Voting Record gets another raking over the coals, this time by the Seattle Weekly. Now, of course, it isn't only Dixon who is getting skewered. The Greens, who apparently never bothered to check up on Dixon's background, are a "laughing stock."

So, how is it that the Greens are a laughing stock for nominating Aaron Dixon and the Republicans were merely embarrassed for nominating Will Baker?

Inquiring minds want to know.