yes, eastern washington does matter.

writing off an entire region is unwise for any party, candidate or initiative campaign. once you write off an entire section, you write off generations of future voters which might actually agree with you. you also demoralize those in eastern washington which agree with you. you also lose the opportunity to talk to middle of the road republicans.

demographics change, ideas come and go. seattle (and western washington) might not always be as blue as they are today. it's our job to explain with our candidates and ideas benefit everyone... because they do.

if you're a "true believer" in progressive and liberal politics, you believe that your ideas are the best for everyone, and you need to explain to everyone why your ideas are superior to the solutions provided by cut and spend, anti-infrastructure, anti-privacy, religious zealots... commonly also known as republicans (1994-current).

in terms of i-912, it's those that are against it which are on the side of eastern washington.

seattle/king county is a DONOR city and county. meaning, we raise the majority of tax money for the entire state. if the gas tax stays in place, millions of dollars will be pouring in from western washington to eastern washington for their roads.

hey, we're trying to be nice. if you want to balkanize the road infrastructure eastern washington, i'm game.

Eastern Washington does matter...but keeping Seattle and King County Blue might matter even more. We should do all we can to grow/maintain a thriving urban environment that attracts like minded liberals. This includes preventing sprawl throughout eastern washington and even growing the urban Spokane environment.

Keeping a majority of Washington population in King County and Seattle is one way to make sure we have a say in our policies and how our money is spent.

How we deal with this sentiment:

That attitude [that KC = 55% of the voters] is one of the main reasons why Eastern Washington votes primarily GOP when it comes to state wide issues. The 3rd LD from central Spokane is the only district from east of the Cascades that has Democratic representation in the state legislature. Combine that with those Puget Sound Democrats who regularly vote across party lines and you have a big swatch of red surrounding a few blue patches.

What this attitude boils down to is:
-KC and Western WA are selfish and get too many resources.
-E WA is under represented.
-E WA should get more money and time at the expense of W WA.
-W WA Dems are too liberal and should act more Republican. We should be ashamed of their crazy liberalness.

The problem:
-E WA has never been the seat of power for Dems. Even in the days of Magnuson and co.
-E WA Dems (like Pierce Co. Dems I might add) can't seem to close. Patty kicked Nethercutt's ass, mostly on the backs of W WA voters, and yet these folks cant turn out enough folks to beat a mayor who was CAUGHT USING GOVT COMPUTERS TO SUBBORN UNDERRAGE GAY SEX!!! If you cant get that guy beat, how can we help you?

So why should we let these guys tell us that we need to water down our politics and our policy?

Tactically, I am not so sure Eastern Washington does matter all that much.

We often contrast the political situation as Western Washington vs. Eastern Washington, but I am not sure how accurate that description really is. I mean politically, 7/9th of Washington is in Western Washington. That’s not exactly 50:50. If we want to talk about political opposites we might as well talk about the Seattle (7th CD) and the South West Washington (3rd CD).

I think rather worrying how 22% (Eastern Washington) of the State feels, we should be talking about how we can move our forward and start being a real progressive leader. Places like Washington should be places where we experiment with new and better ways of doing things that can eventually serve as a model for the rest of the country.

To do this, we should be talking about solidify a progressive base and strengthening Democrats is in the 1st, 2nd, 6th, 8th and 9th Congressional districts rather than worrying about Eastern Washington. Strengthening progressives in Northwest Washington is how we stop being bi-polar, and start being a leader.

-- I never said water down your politics. I told you to think about how your statements can be used against you and not to make fun people who might be on your side.

-- Ding Ding, The recall for the Spokane Mayor is going to a vote next month and it was even covered in the Seattle papers. Read much? But you are right the party over here doesn't work that well. It was kind of sad to see GOP ask for West to step down first. But there is more to his recall than the sex issue. The west side of that state isn't that great either when comes to keeping the party moving forward. In fact from most reports, neither party in any part of the state is functioning very well at this point.

-- The 1st and 8th CD, and I might be being kind when it comes to the 8th, are swing districts. So don't get too cocky over there, or the 1st could be red again.

-- I know you don't do much reading judging by what you said about Magnuson. Let's take a look at some GOP counties today and how they voted for Maggie in 1974.

Okanogan
W. G. Magnuson 4624
Jack Metcalf 2840

Pend Oreille
W. G. Magnuson 1374
Jack Metcalf 997

Spokane
W. G. Magnuson 39833
Jack Metcalf 35753

Walla Walla
W. G. Magnuson 6071
Jack Metcalf 5746

Yakima
W. G. Magnuson 23177
Jack Metcalf 16858

Please notice Maggie won each county easily

Here are the results for Scoop in 1976

Pend Oreille
Henry M. Jackson 2097
George M. Brown 913

Okanogan
Henry M. Jackson 7324
George M. Brown 3199

Spokane
Henry M. Jackson 80762
George M. Brown 41580

Walla Walla
Henry M. Jackson 11568
George M. Brown 5142

Yakima
Henry M. Jackson 34810
George M. Brown 13930

Again Scoop wins each one

-- When it comes to Patty she has strong support East of the mountins, heck she almost beat George in his home county.

Here are some Spokane County numbers for you,

2004
PATTY MURRAY; D 94,446 47 %
GEORGE R. NETHERCUTT JR; R 101,511 51 %

2000
GARY LOCKE D 99492 57.8
JOHN CARLSON R 69848 40.6

1998
PATTY MURRAY -D- 67901 53.5
LINDA SMITH -R- 58817 46.4

I threw Gary Locke in to show how well a left of center Democrat can do in Spokane County.

-- Cantwell will need every vote she can get from Eastern Washington because the left wing of the party may skip the race, which based on her votes compared to their values is understandable. The First Peoples voter drive that delivered 10,000 new voters to the polls may not happen again since Slade is not in the mix. Plus, the "Rossi was robbed" movement within King County could split the vote too close and swing it to the GOP.

-- Speaking of spliting. In the California the Dems wrote big parts of the state off trusting the Bay area and LA county to give them the win in state wide races. All the GOP had to do is split LA county and the GOP now has the governorship of the state.

There is alot to be said about this post and that particular thought that comes out of the west side. But without a doubt, the west side does need us. Not for the same reasons but forgetting to understand eastern wa interest is a dangerous game that you should be very, very careful of. We have different motivations here but none the less, moderate democratic or even republican representation on this side of the state is to the benefit of all.

I will post soon. I promise. I love BD and this is important. You folks need to understand what stand Dems need to take on the east side to be successful. Also, a bit of prodding on east side candidates is needed but not necessarily from west side perspectives.

Lastly, you bring up a good point. One that I have been thinking about for some time.

Jimmmy

http://www.mccranium.org

Hey, this is the person you called chickshit. I'm in Seattle and I would love to buy you a beer.

I know you can't do math or understand history based on your "King County is 55% of the state" remark and saying that Maggie did not do well in Eastern Washington. I gave you those hard numbers a few days ago.

But I think you might be able to drink??!!!

Also here is why King County is not 55% of the state's votes.

1,777,143 King County Population Source http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/53/53033.html

6,203,788 Washington State Population Source http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/53000.html

The thing of note is the growth rate for the state is 5.3% while King County is only 2.3% during the period of April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2004.

So King County is only 28.6% of the state's population.

In the 2004 election, King County had 1,082,406 of the state's 3,508,208 Registered Voters. In other words 30.8%!! NOT 55%

King County had 898,238 of the 2,883,499 ballots cast in Washington state. Or 30.1% of the ballots, again NOT 55% of the state.

The source for the above is http://vote.wa.gov

These numbers are a long way from your claim, Benny G, that King County is 55% of the state's votes!!

I wrote a bit about this today. GEEZ there is alot to think about. Hope it is coherant enough.

http://www.mccranium.org

I'll be there. With bells on. But before I get into the numbers, let's all just calm down. If for no other reason than this dialogue has got to be making some other folks a little uncomfortable.

That being saids, I think my original point still hasn't made it quite through the screaming:

This ad (which for some reason I seem to have become the full throated defender of) was made by some Seattle folks in order to try to encourage some Seattle voters to care about I-912. Your objection (that we are somehow aiding the Rebpublican Party)was based solely on how it would play in Eastern WA. That, I argued, is not relevant.

I'll be there man and I'll even drink a beer with you. Lets just try to keep this more civil.

I'llk be back in a bit with some number stuff.

Lets look at the Gregoire/Rossi/Bennet totals from 2004. I wanted to see what would happen if we stack the 5 biggest counties on the East vs. the 4 biggest on the West (giving the East a nod to geography). Here is what I get:

East (Spokane, Yakima, Benton, Clallum, Chelan
Gregoire-161,316
Rossi-233,634
Bennet-7,784
Total E.Side votes (using just the 5 counties I mentioned above):402,734

West(King, Snohomish, Pierce, Clark):
Gregoire-861,936
Rossi-739,532
Bennett-37,101
W.Side Total (using the 4 counties I mentioned above):1,638,569

Total ballots cast:2,805,913
Gregoire-1,371,153
Rossi-1,371,414
Bennett-63,346

So, lets look at some interesting percentages:

Percentage of Gregoire's votes that came from the West-62.8%
& of Gregoire's votes from the East - 11.7%

Rossi's W. Side percentage - 53.9%
Rossi East - 17%

Total W. Side percentage of ballots cast - 58.4%
Total E. Side percentage - 12.3%

So, what can we conclude from this:

1. You're right, King County itself does not account for 55% of the vote total. I will never make that heinous mistake again.

However:

2. The West Side of the state accounted for well over a majority of voters. In fact, if the winner of the last contest had a higher percentage of that 58% of the pie, she would most certainly have walked away with it without a doubt.

3. Votes on the East side are a hell of a lot more expensive than those on the W side. You cant doorbell, you have to drive bell. You can't billboard, you have to mail. And worst of all, conventional wisdom is you have to hide the fact that you're a liberal.

So, since a vote is a vote wherever you get it, why spend so much extra time & money on that side of the state, when you could get twice as many votes for half the price by dumping all that cash into new organizers in Pierce County?

4. No, it's probably not a good idea to write off an entire region of the state. Makes governing difficult. But on the other hand, Gregoire made a huge investment in Eastern WA, and nobody showed up on election day. She softened her message, she skimped on Pierce and Snohomish County. Hell she announced her candidacy east of the mountains.

So, where's the Return on Investment?

To me, if running an E. Washington campaign means you can't make fun of hillbillies and you can't invest absolutely and with 100% certainty in a progressive base and agenda, then the vote payoff better be huge.

So, where's the payoff?

---------------------------------------------------------

Addendum: looking at population-
From the Office of Finanacial Management:

The Census 2000 population count marks the baseline for tracking a new decade of population change in the state. The majority of growth since 2000 remains concentrated in Western Washington, with the largest fiveyear gains being increases of 71,254 in King County, 55,082 in Pierce County, 49,776 in Snohomish County and 46,262 in Clark County.

Puget Sound Regional Council-Population, Household, and Employment Data- Released December 2003
Regional Forecasts
Population growth of the Puget SOund Region from 2000 to 2030:
3,275,809 -> 3,671,194 -> 4,115,318 -> 4,535,087

Yes, there's a BetterDonkey member from Eastern Washington. For any of you that don't know me personally, I grew up on a farm just outside the Tri-Cities, and I now live in Seattle and help keep BetterDonkey rolling. I come from a whole family in farming, and a good many of us are Republican. A good many of us are not.

Not to be overly grandiose, but every Washingtonian worth their salt needs to look around every once in a while and remember what makes their state the best one in the union. I’m not here just for the wine or the coffee so to speak, but I am here for both. If you’re the type of person that doesn’t ever cross the mountains (in either direction) I can understand your confusion. If you do get out, you’d probably agree with me that a better question than whether or not Eastern Washington matters is perhaps, would Washington matter if it was divided?

Our geography divides us, but in my opinion less so our politics. Look at the polls from around the state and you’ll see what I mean, as many statewide races vary by less than 10 points county to county. Many folks I talk to in Eastern Washington today sound a lot more blue than I’ve ever heard, and when was the last time anyone talked shop with voters in Battle Ground? They’re much more conservative in my opinion than folks in the Tri-Cities. Washington is just about as divided as the nation is right now, but the mountains aren’t the polar line they used to be.

My point is simply this- a politics of division is simply that. Throwing up borders and making arbitrary divisions is pointless. Extending your voice beyond your base isn’t just smart; it’s essential in today’s politics.

When the I-912 video was in production the thought that it might insult eastern Washington didn’t even cross my mind. (It will probably become obvious that the infamous “hillbilly armor” comment could have easily been many other things when the outtakes are published.) It does however very bluntly make a statement about people who don’t approve of the gas tax, and I do see how many could be offended. That’s okay with me, the video was supposed to be loud, obnoxious, and get peoples attention- for those reasons I think it’s very effective.

That said we’ve got to acknowledge we produced a caustic video that does include a loud value judgment meant for a target demographic, and we posted it on the web, where thousands of people outside our “intended” audience watched it. I love the video, I see how it can be interpreted as offensive, and I think it works well for BetterDonkey.

BetterDonkey doesn’t have a statewide target right now, though I’d like it to in the future. Washington politics isn’t quite as simple as carving up districts in my opinion, and our real power as a state comes in our diversity, but old habits die hard. When I’m back in the Tri-Cities and I tell people I live in Seattle, they quietly say, “oh, that’s too bad.” And when I’m in Seattle? If I tell them I grew up on a farm…silence…many don’t even know what that means. That naivety isn’t universal however, and it certainly doesn’t have to be a permanent affliction.

Doug, Jimmy, Ben, thanks for the conversation.

The irony to me is that a lot of people spend a lot of time talking about how liberals don't have a sense of humor. We won't let anyone joke about women or poor people or non-white people or whomever blah blah blah.

The second a little hillbilly armor comes out of the left? Conservatives are all over it.

I'm not trying to make any kind of amazing ground-breaking point here. Probably I'm just saying that we're all hypocrites, every stinking one of us.

Watch out, there's some really good sense being made here:

We should be talking about how we can move our state forward and start being a real progressive leader. Places like Washington should be places where we experiment with new and better ways of doing things that can eventually serve as a model for the rest of the country.

I propose we start doing this right about... now