State Election news:
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Don't split ticket (editorial) -- The case for an Obama-Gregoire vote is stronger when you consider the benefits to this state from an Obama administration. Gregoire was an early supporter of Obama when the majority of elected Democrats in the state were solidly behind Hillary Clinton. A split ticket? Not this election. A President Obama and Governor Gregoire are stronger together.
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Gregoire, Rossi campaigns spread wealth in final days -- More than $41 million will be spent on this year's gubernatorial race and anyone with a television knows where a lot of that money is going.
▪  At HorsesAss.org -- Washington unemployment rate falls -- So WA’s rate is 5.8% compared to 6.1% nationally (only 4.6% in the Seattle area), while the state has shown a 1% net increase in jobs over the past 12 months, compared to a 0.7% decline nationally. So what exactly is Dino Rossi’s complaint about the way Gov. Gregoire is handling our budget and our economy?
▪  In today's (Longview) Daily News -- Bergeson is best choice to lead state's schools (endorsement) -- Bergeson’s opponent cannot match her knowledge of educational issues or her demonstrated ability to work well with people of opposing viewpoints to improve school quality. We urge voters to retain Terry Bergeson as Superintendent of Public Instruction.
▪  In today's Everett Herald -- Two promises Rossi says he would delay if elected -- The Republican says two of his big plans -- money for roads and eliminating the estate tax -- would have to wait.

Local News:
▪  In today's Olympian -- Program to teach soldiers new career is applauded -- The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry trains veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan to become apprentice welders. Gov. Gregoire and the director of the state Department of Veterans Affairs, visit the union's Lacey office to call attention to its efforts. (See yesterday's posting: New liaison to promote state's Helmets to Hardhats program)

▪  In today's Bellingham Herald -- Union dispute over Medic One will end soon -- The fate of a fifth Whatcom Medic One ambulance unit will soon take another twist, as one of two local unions fighting over the right to staff it will instead leave their parent union. Rather than comply with the IAFF ruling that it's Local 106 work, Local 3855 in the Ferndale area decided to leave the IAFF.
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Port to dip into SeaTac reserves to ensure garage funding -- Citing petrified bond markets, the Port of Seattle Commission votes to use up to $20 million from Sea-Tac Airport's cash reserves to ensure that construction of a $382 million rental car facility continues.
▪  In today's Yakima H-R -- $4.9 million project will make SR 22 safer, DOT says -- Work is expected to begin in the spring of 2010 and the project should be finished by the end of that year.
▪  In today's Spokesman-Review -- Firefighter claim seeks $20 million from state -- The State Patrol arrested him in January and accused him of possessing child pornography. He was later cleared.
▪  In today's Oregonian -- Oregon tax activist Sizemore's spending clashes with law -- By using a charity like his personal ATM, initiative activist Bill Sizemore has himself at odds with federal law that bans individuals from using tax-exempt foundations for private gain.

Presidential Race 2008:
▪  At CNN.com -- AFL-CIO kicks off largest get-out-the-vote effort ever -- The federation is targeting more than 13 million union voters across the country in presidential, congressional and gubernatorial battleground states.
▪  In today's NY Times -- More Democrats casting early ballots, data show -- With as many as one-third of voters expected to cast their ballots before Election Day, data from key battleground states show more Democrats than Republicans have voted early. In years past, early voting has tended to favor Republicans.
▪  In today's Wall St. Journal -- Obama opens double-digit lead -- A growing number of voters saying they're now comfortable with his values, background and ability to serve as commander in chief.

"S"-word news:
▪  From AP -- U.S. tax formula already "spreads the wealth" -- McCain's condemnation of Obama's call for shifting more wealth from richer Americans to poorer ones wins applause at campaign events, but it ignores the nation's long tradition of redistributing huge amounts of wealth through tax and spending policies. Placing a heavier burden on the wealthy has been a cornerstone of the federal income tax since its inception in 1913.
▪  From AP -- U.S. gap between rich, poor widening -- Economic inequality is growing in the world's richest countries, particularly in the United States, jeopardizing the American Dream of social mobility just as the world tilts toward recession, a new 30-nation report says.
▪  From McClatchy -- Socialism: It's part of America's fabric -- Socialism involves state ownership of the means of economic production and state-directed sharing of the wealth. America's democratic capitalist system is neither socialist nor pure free market; rather, it mixes the two, and it has at least since the progressive income tax was introduced 95 years ago. Under it, the wealthy pay higher income-tax rates than those who are less fortunate do. It's a form of sharing the wealth.
▪  In today's Washington Post -- The "Socialist" scare (column) -- There are two equally worrying aspects of the toxic fallout from the McCain campaign's closing argument. The first is how much harder it will be for the next president to unite a divided country in the way that both McCain and Obama say they want. Ominous talk about socialism and welfare, about pro- and anti-America, threatens to make that task harder, no matter who is elected. The second is the long-term damage to the ability to move beyond the stale "no new taxes" debate and have an adult discussion about how to raise the revenue the country needs to make investments for the future.

Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time news:
▪  In today's Wash. Post -- Palin apologizes for "Real America" comments -- She apologizes for implying that some parts of the country are more American than others, as similar comments by two Republican congressmen were causing a backlash that threatened their re-election chances.
▪  From AP -- Palin tells kids VP "runs" Senate -- Asked by a third-grader what a VP does, she says the vice president is the president's "team mate" but also "runs the Senate."
▪  From AP -- Palin billed Alaska thousands for kids' travel -- Charges included hotels and commercial flights for her daughters to join her watching their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where she attended a 5-hour conference and stayed with her daughter for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.
▪  At Huffington Post -- Palin clothes spending has Dems salivating, Republicans disgusted -- Since her selection as McCain's running mate, the Republican National Committee spent more than $150,000 on clothing and make-up for Palin, her husband, and even her infant son. (Between this and McCain's $5,000 makeup job, they're making John Edwards' $400 haircut look like a bargain.)

Health Care news:
▪  In today's NY Times -- Some cut back on prescription drugs in sour economy -- For the first time in at least a decade, consumers are trying to get by on fewer prescription drugs. As people respond to economic hard times by juggling the cost of necessities, drugs are sometimes having to wait.
▪  In today's LA Times -- Health insurers reinvent themselves as money managers -- Many rush to open banks as more Americans open health savings accounts, a tax-sheltered way to pay medical bills. Managing that money is more profitable than offering health insurance.

"Do As I Say, Not As I Do" news:
▪  In today's NY Times -- Wal-Mart to toughen standards -- The retailer plans to announce in Beijing that it will require manufacturers supplying goods for its stores to adhere to stricter ethical and environmental standards, the latest effort answer criticism of its business practices.