Heart of America Northwest Director Gerry Pollet has got quite a race going for an open seat in the state House of Representatives in Seattle’s 46th District.

The latest Rasmussen Reports poll shows Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire opening up an 11 point lead on Republican Dino Rossi.

I was rummaging through the Legislature’s four caucus campaign committee websites Thursday and stumbled on a redesign of the House Republican Organizational Committee’s site.

The California state Supreme Court ruled today that gay couples can enter into marriage and you can read all about it here.

Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, has drawn an election year challenge and it’s from none other than Bothell Republican Dennis Richter.

The good folks at the state budget office just put out the 2007 Data Book, an annual compilation of seemingly random statistics from the most recent year in which that data is available.

A few odds and/or ends here.

Rep. Mary Skinner, R-Yakima, announced today she won’t seek re-election this fall.

Here’s our monthly rundown of the top fundraisers for legislative and statewide office campaigns during the month of April, minus the tallies for the governor’s race that we reported on earlier. Monthly summary reports were due Saturday. I’ll add to this list if there are any notable stragglers.

Seattle real estate agent Leslie Bloss has set up a Republican campaign to run for the open House seat being vacated by retiring state Rep. Helen Sommers, D-Seattle.

Fife Councilman Robert Cerqui has filed paperwork setting up a Democratic campaign for the state House seat being vacated by Rep. Joyce McDonald, R-Puyallup.

Official monthly summary reports filed with the Public Disclosure Commission today show Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire raised twice what Republican challenger Dino Rossi raised during the month of April.

Republican Skip Novakovich, a longtime business leader in downtown Kennewick, said today he plans to announce his candidacy for the House seat being vacated by Rep. Shirley Hankins, R-Richland, in the next couple weeks.

Kent Republican Tan Lam has jumped into the race against Rep. Dave Upthegrove, D-Des Moines, with one bold promise. No smooth talk.

When the Legislative Ethics Board ruled last September that state Rep. Larry Haler, R-Richland, did not break state ethics laws in his communications with the city of Richland on behalf of a longtime friend, it was clear the board was happy to be done with the matter.

Here’s a quick roundup of some legislative candidate news and notes I’ve been meaning to get to.

I talked with Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, this week about how this year’s campaigns are shaping up for the caucus and he offered a few interesting tidbits.

As if trailing in the delegate count and money race weren’t bad enough for Hillary Clinton’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, it also appears she’s losing the battle for the most entertaining YouTube videos.

We posted 22 minutes of video from Rep. Shirley Hankins’ retirement press conference yesterday and let’s just say it was wide ranging.

I talked briefly this afternoon with Sen. Jerome Delvin and Rep. Larry Haler about Rep. Shirley Hankins’ decision to retire and Delvin in particular offered some interesting insights.

I just got a text message from Herald reporter Michelle Dupler indicating that longtime state Rep. Shirley Hankins has just announced she won’t seek a 13th term this fall. Hankins is holding a rare press conference in Richland that was scheduled for 11 a.m.

I was off for a couple days last week and missed the news that Pasco Republican Shane Thorson has abandoned his campaign against state Rep. Bill Grant, D-Walla Walla, because he’s being deployed to Iraq.

I've talked with both Rob Welch and Rep. Larry Haler and it would seem that it'll be hard to keep any lingering personality conflicts held over from their City Council days out of the campaign, even if it's only behind the scenes. Most of this won't make it into the paper tomorrow so here it is.

Following today’s news that Areva will build its uranium enrichment plant in Idaho instead of in the Tri-Cities Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi and U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, issued statements jabbing Gov. Chris Gregoire for not being more aggressively supportive of the project.

As we suspected yesterday Rob Welch plans to announce his Republican campaign against state Rep. Larry Haler, R-Richland, at noon today.

State Rep. Shirley Hankins has scheduled an 11 a.m. press conference for Wednesday in Richland.

It’s been rumored for some time that former Richland Mayor Rob Welch would run for a House seat in the 8th District this fall. And that rumor may become news tomorrow.

State Rep. Steve Hailey, R-Mesa, just issued a press release indicating he will seek re-election this fall after having been diagnosed with colon cancer in January.

Eager to retire a $250,000 loan he is taking out to pay for Initiative 985 signature gatherers initiative promoter Tim Eyman is resorting to an old fundraising standby — the matching game.

It looks like Puyallup Republican Bruce Dammeier won’t be running unopposed for the open House seat being vacated by Rep. Joyce McDonald after all.

Normandy Park’s Todd Gibson is the latest candidate to throw his hat in the ring the race to replace the retiring Rep. Shay Schual-Berke.

Ok, I’m teasing with that headline. But seriously, Rep. Larry Haler has scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m. Friday to announce his re-election campaign.

Seattle Republican Kim Cathleen Verde has signed up to take on House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, this fall.

The Associated Press has the story on the weekend arrest of state Rep. Geoff Simpson, D-Covington.

Hang on to your fake money, the Youth Legislature is back in town.

State Rep. Glenn Anderson, R-Fall City, has drawn a second Democratic challenger in the form of North Bend’s David Spring. Or maybe he isn’t. You make the call.

Initiative promoter Tim Eyman just sent out a note to supporters telling them that he’s taking out a $250,000 loan to help pay signature gatherers for Initiative 985.

Here’s a few quick blasts about a couple new challengers running for seats in the state House of Representatives and one for the Senate.

State Rep. Shirley Hankins, R-Richland, said today she still hasn’t decided whether to seek another term.

Here’s laundry list of noteworthy items, presented McLaughlin Group style.

Stateline.org has an interesting article on a new report by the National Conference of State Legislatures that outlines budget deficits projected for 23 states next year. Washington did not make the list.

We recently asked if there was anyone in the 40th District who isn’t running for the retiring Harriet Spanel’s Senate seat since the race is getting so crowded. And this week we got an answer.

The morning after the Legislature adjourned this year’s session members of the capital press corps were called to the Senate floor for a group photo.

One of the more amusing aspects to covering campaigns in an election year is digesting all the yelling and screaming political parties intend for public consumption.

Loyal readers of this blog know that from time to time I’ve poked fun at the liberal use of acronyms that don’t spell anything — and couldn’t possibly serve their intended purpose — in government press releases.

John Gotts from White Salmon called out of the blue this afternoon to announce he’s running for Congress in the 4th District as a Democrat.

Just a few quick links here to get you up to speed on the latest candidate news.

The state Democratic Party is making it easy for you to lobby its six superdelegates who have the freedom to vote for whoever they wish to be the party’s presidential nominee.

The obvious question to ask Pasco’s Valoria Loveland today after she announced her retirement plans as director of the state Department of Agriculture was “what’s next?”

Linda Thompson, the executive director of the Greater Spokane Substance Abuse Prevention Council, has filed a candidacy registration form setting up her Democratic campaign against state Rep. Larry Crouse, R-Spokane Valley.

Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, has drawn a second Democratic challenger.