Jason Mercier over at the Washington Policy Center blog uncovered this little tidbit this week. The University of Washington is paying a lobbyist $175 an hour to lobby the Legislature to bless a plan providing $150 million in taxpayer dollars to renovate Husky Stadium.

The state Supreme Court this morning ruled that Initiative 1029 will remain on the Nov. 4 ballot.

David Postman is leaving the Seattle Times.

Earlier this week I wrote about how the state’s Public Disclosure Commission had ruled that Oregon Death With Dignity Poltical Action Fund had to identify its donors who were, ultimately, contributing to the I-1000 campaign.

You remember that whole deal about Gov. Chris Gregoire getting carded while trying to enter an Olympia bar during the annual Capital Lakefair in July?

I took note the other night of a homemade sign that appeared in the crowd at the Republican National Convention that read “Democrats for McCain.”

A few odds and ends for you on a Wednesday.

The state’s Public Disclosure Commission on a 3-2 vote last week determined that the Oregon Death With Dignity Political Action Fund must identify donors who are providing the money it is contributing to the Initiative 1000 campaign.

Not sure how I missed this one but Attorney General Rob McKenna at his primary evening barbecue offered to be tossed into Lake Sammamish if enough supporters cut a check to his campaign.

Rep. Doug Ericksen, a Ferndale Republican and the deputy minority leader in the House, didn’t care much for our Friday post about rumblings of a leadership change in the caucus.

You know your vice presidential nominee is from Alaska when the news of her emergence shares the homepage of the state’s largest newspaper with these headlines:

As one might expect, anyone and everyone with an “R” by their name is praising John McCain’s choice for a running mate today. Almost.

Republican John McCain’s new vice presidential running mate has deep family ties in the Tri-Cities.

Republicans in the state House of Representatives won’t know for more than two months yet whether they’re losing even more seats in their shrinking caucus but there may already be a movement afoot to make a leadership change.

A poll conducted by independent pollster Stuart Elway for the Secretary of State’s Office indicates voters greatly prefer the "top two" primary system to the pick-a-party primary used prior to this year.

The state’s Public Disclosure Commission just before noon unanimously accepted the stipulated agreement between agency staff and the state Republican Party for a $15,000 fine against the party for problems with contributions it made in 2004 and 2006.

When Dave Ammons of the Associated Press left the Capital Press Corps this year after 37 years of distinguished service to take a job outside the profession I wondered who would be next. This week we got the answer.

A couple odds and ends here.

What do you do to steal the spotlight if you’re the Republican Party on a day when Democrat Barack Obama is to deliver a historic speech to the Democratic National Convention?

There are Democratic politicians in this state who still curse the Seattle City Council under their breaths for its 2000 decision to support breaching the four lower Snake River dams, handing Republicans a valuable wedge issue they’ve used to rout Democratic candidates in Eastern Washington ever since.

Now that Joseph James has bested Rep. Jim Dunn, R-Vancouver, in the primary and is heading to the general election to face Democrat Tim Probst in the 17th District, it’s a good time to address one question. Who the heck is Joseph James?

Prosser’s Brad Taylor is a Hillary Clinton delegate at the Democratic National Convention and says he’ll throw his support to Barack Obama if that’s what Clinton asks. But he said others won’t make the switch so easily.

The state Republican Party has agreed to a $15,000 fine by the Public Disclosure Commission for failing to notify Republican campaigns in 2004 and 2006 that it had spent some $300,000 on their behalf.

Bryan Bissell over at PolitickerWa.com has a story up about how Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean rallied the Washington troops this morning and boldly declared success for Democrats east of the Cascades.

I’m not. But it seems the rest of the free world is.

You remember that old saying that “you can’t polish a turd?” Well, there sure are a lot of campaigns trying.

Political reporters get bombarded this time of year by news releases from candidates for public office touting their latest endorsements they’ve received. It rarely makes news.

I’m taking a couple of days off, but through the magic of future publishing, this blog isn’t.

An outfit called the Cannabis Defense Coalition sent a postcard to the mother ship recently touting a medical marijuana rally Monday in Olympia. You might say it was a bit trippy.

Benton County is expected to release updated primary election figures this afternoon, which could help clear up which Republican will advance to the general election with Democrat Carol Moser in a race for an open House seat in the 8th Legislative District.

We’re back in the saddle after a long day and night. A couple of quick notes and observations.

It’s primary election day and the beginning of what’ll be a very long thread here on the blog today, tonight, and likely into tomorrow morning.

Yesterday in a blog post I mentioned a $120,000 mailer House Democrats’ Harry Truman Fund produced and sent out recently. The state Republican Party today filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission over it.

Still haven’t filled out your ballot? Getting desperate but remain determined to vote? If so, I’ve got a good idea who you won’t be voting for.

The Herald’s Annette Cary is reporting that the state of Washington has decided against seeking a U.S. Supreme Court review of 2004’s Initiative 297, a nuclear cleanup measure sought by Hanford watchdog Heart of America Northwest.

Gov. Chris Gregoire on Sunday’s Up Front program on KING TV in Seattle was asked about her role in the failed recruitment of the Areva uranium enrichment plant to the Tri-Cities and that produced a good two-minute long exchange.

Gov. Chris Gregoire’s campaign has a new radio ad running in the Tri-Cities that counters charges levied in ads that began running last week and were paid for by the Benton County Republican Party.

In our story yesterday that surveyed the landscape for this year’s legislative campaigns we reported how House Democrats have built a dominating fundraising advantage over their Republican counterparts.

We’ve got a story in today’s paper that breaks down this year’s legislative campaigns and surveys the landscape heading into Tuesday’s primary, which will greatly define this year’s battlefield.

Just a quick programming note. I’ll be live blogging all day and all night Tuesday, which ought to be an interesting experiment.

I worked quite late last night (late enough that I got home this morning) on a lengthy story for the weekend (more on that Sunday) and so I’m taking the afternoon off.

There’s a great line in The Godfather where the previously squeaky clean Michael Corleone suggests knocking off a crooked cop and has to convince his brother that it’s not out of a fit of rage for a botched attempted murder of his father.

A SurveyUSA poll conducted for KING TV in Seattle and KATU TV in Portland shows Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire leading Republican Dino Rossi 50 percent to 48 percent, marking a slight improvement for Rossi.

This week Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi proposed to cut budget of the Office of the Governor by 10 percent to help reduce the state’s projected budget deficit. One element of that plan sounded familiar.

In a discussion yesterday House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, joked about how tired reporters must be of him talking about his “One Washington” theme (“that’s a win-win for One Washington”) but offered an idea Eastern Washington might want to listen to.

The state’s Office of Financial Management today unveiled a “Performance and Results” page on its website that offers viewers oodles of information about how state government is spending your tax dollars.

Dino Rossi’s Republican campaign sent out a memo Tuesday afternoon that explains why it expects to trail Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire in Tuesday’s primary.

Think next week’s primary is just a formality for Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi?

The Benton County Republican Party is running radio ads in the Tri-Cities attacking Gov. Chris Gregoire over her role in the failed recruitment of $2 billion uranium enrichment plant, which Areva announced in May would be built in Idaho.

The Secretary of State’s Office yesterday afternoon announced the final slate of presidential candidates who will appear on the Nov. 4 general election ballot. And here they are.

Over at the Seattle P-I’s Strange Bedfellows blog Chris McGann has Stuart Elway’s report on his recent poll that showed Gov. Chris Gregoire leading Republican Dino Rossi by 16 points.