Washington: Jay Inslee

SEATTLE - U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Bainbridge Island) kicked things off at today's fundraiser luncheon featuring former Vice President Al Gore on behalf of Gov. Chris Gregoire by imploring voters to make it so that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Dino Rossi are all "swept into the ashcan of history."

He went on to praise Gregiore for her "financial acumen" and praised Washington's current status of carrying a budget surplus, and said she was among the boldest and most visionary leaders in the nation on the issue of climate change.

Washington state's U.S. House delegation once again split down the middle the Economic Stabilization Act, better known as the revised bailout bill.

The state's nine Representatives split their votes 5-4 just as they had done earlier in the week. This time, however, they voted mostly "no", despite the revised bill's passage in the House, 263-171.  All three Republicans voted against the bill, joined by two of the state's six Democats.

DENVER - Green energy is a big deal in Washington politics, and one of its loudest cheerleaders is U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Bainbridge Island), who even co-wrote a book on the subject, Apollo's Fire, late last year.

Inslee told PolitickerWA.com yesterday that he felt that the push for green energy, and the resulting shifts in the economy that would result from the actualization of a major shift, would help Chris Gregoire in her bid for re-election.

DENVER -- As mentioned earlier, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and DNC Chair Howard Dean addressed the Washington delegation this morning along with Washington Democratic Chair Dwight Pelz and state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle), but the star power did not stop there.