Washington: Greg Nickels

Last Friday’s 4.5 magnitude earthquake was not-so-gentle reminder of just how much Gov. Chris Gregoire, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and (soon to be former) King County Executive Ron Sims are gambling in their deliberations and recommendation for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

It was the imminent threat of earthquake that boosted the $4.24 billion viaduct project on Seattle’s downtown waterfront and, to a lesser extent, the $4.5 billion Highway 520 bridge project, to the top of the state’s priority list for money. Those two projects were the main reason the Legislature approved raising the gas tax by 9.5 cents a gallon in 2005.

Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi never let a stump speech go by without reminding the audience that, as governor, he would be able to appoint hundreds of new state officials from the “blueberry commission on up.”

That didn’t happen, but on the federal level Democratic President-elect Barack Obama, taking over after eight years of Republican George Bush, will have the authority to appoint thousands of officials to government jobs, including a number of high profile posts here in Washington state.

DENVER -- A few dozen of Washington state's delegates spent this morning giving back to the community before heading over to the Pepsi Center to cast their votes to nominate Illinois Senator Barack Obama for president.

In an event organized by Democrats Work, a Seattle-based community service organization, Metro Volunteers and Volunteers of America, and the Democratic National Convention Committee, the Washington delegates met up with their colleagues from across the country to sort boxes of food for Meals on Wheels.

DENVER -- Jay Inslee hit the ground running with a full head of steam.

"Boy is this a good time to be a Washington Democrat," U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee said when he took the stage at the Washington state delegation breakfast this morning. "I have never been so optimistic, I have never been so engaged, I have never been so motivated."

He pointed to George Bush's mishandling of Katrina, and Sen. John McCain refusing to vote on a deadlocked energy bill earlier this session as the reason for his fervor.