Well, the Washington Secretary of State has just posted the results.  Unfortunately they forgot the numbers.  I'll keep updating this as the night goes on.

Link is here.

While Darcy Burner is unopposed in her primary election tomorrow, the race will still provide a bit of a preview for November. Washington state has adopted a ridiculous "top-two" primary system, with every candidate listed on the ballot and their party "preference" indicated rather than a real party identification. The top two vote getters from tomorrow's primary will advance on to the general election--in most cases there isn't any question who will be the top two, so the outcome is pretty much already determined. Like I said, ridiculous.

And not particularly popular, with very poor turnout expected, given the lack of suspense. So far, only about 27% of ballots have been returned (Washington has high absentee/mail-in voter participation). Despite the low turnout projected, the primary could still provide a bit of a preview of November.

To that end, getting the vote out for Darcy Burner tomorrow is the campaign's top priority. So folks in Western Washington, if you can help out by volunteering to work on GOTV, contact the Burner campaign to pitch in. And don't forget to vote. Even if it is a silly primary system, it's all we got.

From PressTV:

A former senior CIA official, Bill Christison, says Georgia may have received the green light from the US to attack South Ossetia.

Christison made the statement in response to Press TV correspondent's question whether or not Washington gave the go ahead for Georgia to launch its attack.

The CIA political analyst said that there were quite a few people in the US that supported this kind of conflict and wanted the US to change its position in the Middle East and Central Asia.

He said it was highly possible that Washington actually encouraged Georgia to attack South Ossetia.

Our empire is costing us our democracy.

Here in Washington Primary Day is almost upon us which means the first run of the Top 2 Primary System. Now I am wary of this new primary system but I guess I have to live with it for the time being. For those of you not familiar with the system it puts all the candidates for an office in one pool and voters vote for their choice. The two candidates with highest number of votes move on to the general. Oh and in Washington candidates are not part of a political party on the ballot but say what party they prefer if any. So for our current Governor, Christine Gregoire, she lists herself as prefers Democratic Party. Her main challenger Dino Rossi lists himself as prefers G.O.P. Party. Now this is a clear attempt for Dino to hide the fact that he is a Republican but it won’t work. As Governor Gregoire brilliantly put it G.O.P stands for Grossly Outdated Politician. I am hoping that the people of Washington soon realize what a disaster the Top 2 Primary System is and move for a change. Why is it so bad you ask? Let me tell you.

Darcy Burner's strong campaign and phenomenal fundraising has the Republican incumbent Reichert, and his GOP buddies, more than a little concerned. Which has led them to a really not politically smart effort:

Just before the August recess, a group of well-connected young Republicans calling themselves Club 218 attempted to make up the difference, arranging a fundraiser for Reichert, according to news reports.

The problem?

Roll Call recently listed some of Club 218’s members, including Mike Chappell, a lobbyist for the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. at Fierce, Isakowitz and Blalock; and Christopher Cox, a D.C. Navigators’ lobbyist for Alabama Aircraft Industries, which is fighting Boeing on a tanker maintenance contract.

EADS is teamed with Northrop Grumman in the tanker competition, to assemble the tanker in Mobile, Ala.

There are some 19,000 Boeing employees in Washington's 8th district. Now, the Club 218 people are probably smart enough to make sure that none of Boeing's competitor's lobbyists are going to show up on Reichert's FEC filings. According to the Roll Call article referenced, the event was a joint funder with Darren White, running for NM-01. Undoubtedly, all of the anti-Boeing lobbyists' money was directed to White's campaign rather than Reichert's. But at the same time, these anti-Boeing lobbyists were involved in quietly organizing a lucrative, private special interest funder for Reichert at the Capitol Club.

And it doesn't change the fact that there is an incestuous web of ties between Republican industry lobbyists and Republican members and Reichert is smack dab in the middle of it. All those Boeing employees in his district have the right to question where his loyalties really lie.

On the Web:
Darcy Burner for Congress
Orange to Blue

You'd think by now candidates would have figured out that you prevent having "Macaca Moments" by not showing your true colors in front of video cameras, but some of them are slow learners, I guess. In Washington, Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi tried to avoid having the opposition record him by having his goons rough up a cameraman--which was all captured on video. Oops.

Apparently, a "press conference" in Dino Rossi's world is not a public event. He's a mini-Bush in the making, his race fueled by bitterness and sour grapes from his narrow loss in 2004. It's encouraging that the Seattle Times (one of the least confrontational, most milque-toast major dailies in the nation when it comes to covering politics) actually covered this story. Hopefully they'll make a habit of it. Dino Rossi has skated far too long on his nice guy, harmless image.

I've been doing this newsletter for over 5 years.  It started with DC for Clark and only recently has it become the "DC for Obama" newsletter although I've been on the local Obama grassroots team for a long time.  After the election it will go back to being about progressive events in the DC region.  Anyway, I had stopped posting it to Daily Kos but several people at Netroots Nation asked me to post it here.  

how the founding fathers felt taxes should be handled. And reasons why the government shouldnt get its hands on the economy.

Last week I had a huge influx of readers interested in my piece on Eric Cantor. Seems I'm not the only one thinking McCain might just pick Cantor. I think it's a longshot, but possible.

Things are getting very hectic personally. This may be the last newsletter for a few weeks or more. We will be on vacation in California for a couple of weeks and I will have Grand Jury duty after that. Plus work is exploding for me and Joy's dissertation is overdue. Even politically, I will need to put some extra effort into my friend, Devin Cohen's primary election September 9th. But this newsletter I cover some pretty critical stuff.

July started out incredibly badly for Darcy Burner and her family. While the family is still dealing with the loss of pretty much everything they owned, Darcy's future remains as bright as ever. That's in large part thanks to the netroots, who stepped up to help make sure that her campaign could go on in the face of her family's catastrophe.

Saying that we stepped up is putting it mildly:

Burner's campaign has just turned in their pre-primary filing with the FEC, and she's reporting to have raised nearly $351,000 in the month of July, ending the period with close to $1.5 million in the bank. Those are monstrous numbers, especially when you consider that only $18,000 of her total came from PACs.

Reichert's numbers are in, too, and and it doesn't look good for the incumbent. His July take, was just $115K.

Here's the breakdown in their reports for July and for the election cycle to date.

Total for July:
Burner: $350,897.68
Reichert: $115,474.88

From Individuals:
Burner: $329,022.30
Reichert: $49,159.88

Small Individual Donations:
Burner: $186,832.07
Reichert: $8,544.00

Total for Cycle from Individuals:
Burner: $1,995,109.43 (85%)
Reichert: $1,084,379.23 (58%)

PACs for July:
Burner: $18,100.00
Reichert: $62,250.00

Total for Cycle from PACs:
Burner: $296,859.24 (13%)
Reichert: $570,645.46 (31%)

Total for Cycle:
Burner: $2,337,372.67
Reichert: $1,866,086.08

Refunded in Cycle:
Burner: $6,550.01
Reichert: $56,970.00

Cash on Hand:
Burner: $1,476,757.53
Reichert: $928,113.96

It doesn't really get better than that. The difference between a people-powered progressive campaign and that of an establishment Republican really couldn't be made more clear. Also note that Burner's ActBlue numbers are at $416,118, or just under the difference in cash on hand. One of the reasons Darcy gets so much support is because, even though she's not in Congress yet, she's already a leader.

And she'll be talking about one of her projects, the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq, today on Meet the Bloggers (http://meetthebloggers.org/ [link corrected]) at 1:00 EDT. Her appearance will be followed by a roundtable discussion on Iraq by David Goldstein, Matt Stoller, and me. You can stream the show live and participate through the comment thread, or you can view an archive after it's posted.

Some major developments this week involving corruption and domestic terrorism. Shootings, anthrax, and indictments. I have been talking for quite some time about Republican corruption and Ted Stevens of Alaska is somoene I declared as the most corrupt politician in America. Well, this week he was indicted. I have also been writing for some time about right wing fanatics in government and on talk shows inciting intolerance and violence. Well, we had another example of right wing terrorism in Knoxville, TN, quite possibly inspired by right wing talk shows.

Meanwhile, speculation about who Obama and McCain will pick for the VP spot is is the current rage. Everyone has tips, inside info and rumors to share. Well, I have no idea who either will choose, but one possibility for McCain was mentioned to me that would be interesting: Eric Cantor, Congressman from Virginia who makes Joe Lieberman look liberal. I discuss him this week. I also review my past coverage of Republican election fraud in Florida and Georgia. I am sure we will see the same kind of fraud in both states again this year. Plus I have been trying to flesh out my state-by-state coverage.

SurveyUSA. 7/27-30. Likely voters. MoE 3.8% (6/18 results)

Just some float within the MoE, this thing remains tight. Independents split 45/45, while 16 percent of Democrats still support Reichert. Bringing those voters home will be important for Burner's chances of victory, and to do that, she'll need cash to deliver her message to her district's voters.

It's the end of the month, I was planning on doing a last-minute push to get her over the $150K mark we pledged after her house burned down, so she could focus on putting her life back together rather than fundraising.

Well, heading over to our Orange to Blue ActBlue page,  it turns out that the blogosphere blew by that goal -- she's at $159K. So no need for a last minute push to get her over the goal. But this isn't just a winnable race, but a chance to put a future bona fide and fearless progressive leader in Congress.

Darcy Burner is a candidate seriously worth giving to, regardless of whether we met our goal or not.

On the web:
Darcy Burner for Congress
Orange to Blue ActBlue Page

By all accounts John McCain had a lousy week while Barack Obama was greeted like a star by our troops and by crowds all over the world.

Here is a video from You Tube of Obama meeting the troops in Kuwait. They sure look thrilled with his presence:

What is the relevance to the current political climate of public nudity in an organized, public event?  It seems like a bit of a stretch, but now, after a month's reflection and discussion, I think there is a clear connection.  This is another one of my seemingly pointless, rambling diatribes.  Hear me out, though.  I promise that the dry, didactic narrative will not be bereft of titillation.  If you like sex, this might even be a good read.  Still, I'll try to make a point.

Even Bush is sick of the Iraq fiasco...he has been mumbling about pulling out troops and about a "time horizon"...yes, "HORIZON," not a timeline, for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Don't know about you, but I have never heard anyone talk about "time horizons" before. Makes me think of an event horizon around a black hole...which is an ominous comparison.

Remember, though, Bush's shifting to withdrawal is not by any choice of his. The Iraq government has told him in no uncertain terms that we have outlived our welcome and they do not want us there permanently.

There probably isn’t a man alive who doesn’t reach his hand into his pocket on a daily basis. It is a normal occurrence, paying for a purchase, or just standing around waiting for something, hand in the pocket without giving it a thought.

Well the news out of Washington Friday July 11 was more than a bit disturbing. It seems that we are all familiar with George Bush and his moneyed Republican friends sticking their hands into our pockets, through high gasoline and food prices, as well as through taxes on everything including the kitchen sink.

I'm currently running for Spokane County Commissioner in eastern Washington, so I'm pleased to report that I've seen a great deal of progress on the Netroots Nation Island--including progress on my booth!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. Jacob saw his first real fireworks display and loved it at first. We were watching from the 12th floor of a building right on the waterfront, so it was spectacular. Unfortunately, he was coming down with a fever and by the end was pretty unhappy. He is fine again now.

This was a big week, both locally where my friend qualified for the ballot for NYC's Sept. 9th primary election, and nationally where Obama's surge continued even as the Democrats once again showed less spine than we would like them to. More below.