Washblog

Thanks for staying on top of this.  Grant has every right to be angry as hell.  His district is one of the best in the area of bi-partisanship in the state.  As Chris Mulick wrote today in the Tri-City Herald, our own Larry Haler's (8th LD) welled up on the subject.  For good Republicans and Democrats to be further polarized by this is a crime that deserves punishment.

by Jimmy on Wed Jan 25, 2006 at 07:47:12 PM PST

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Could someone help me with a timeline here? From what I can gather, the Republicans tried to push their bill past committee when the legislative session opened. The first posting on the blogs I saw about the Roundtable postcard thuggery was, I think, January 12 or 13.

Am I wrong that the WA DEMS responded with a press release somewhere sometime Jan. 22, 23rd?

That was one day after the PI ran a piece on the whole scandal.

So, did it take ten days for the Democratic side to respond?

How many days after the damage was done, and postcards ended up in countertops in how many homes?

I'm curious because as we head into the 2006 elections, I wonder if the War Room mentality will quicken the pulse of the Dem Party.

If not, it's going to be a long election cycle.

Because we will never match their money, (I think, for example, Dave Reichert already has over a millions bucks right now), we will need to counter their salacious tactics with speed and decisiveness.

Will it be up to the blogs to be the Dem Party watchdogs?

by Andrew Tsao on Wed Jan 25, 2006 at 09:33:33 PM PST

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Ok, call me naïve - but doesn't the state party's infrastructure have someone who is responsible for this sort of thing? If not, why not?

I am not saying that we need a full-time war room set up - though it might not be a bad idea during election years anyway -  but it would seem that there should be some mechanism for a coordinated response independent from the whims of whoever is leading the party.

I appreciate Particle's point about not overreacting about this and driving more media coverage for the Republicans, but we need a stronger counter-offensive to push these constant dirty tricks not just onto groups such as the Roundtable, but onto individual Republicans in the various districts.  Make them defend putting out a false sex offender warning to the public.  Pin it to individuals and make them look bad until they either condemn their own apparatus, or go down before the voters.  

We need smart responses to this sort of thing and Washington is a dang good place to do it.

by Nindid on Thu Jan 26, 2006 at 09:50:23 AM PST

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Note to Dems on the national level:
You can fight back! You don't have to stoop to their level, and you don't have to take it. United, and angry, we can nip this kind of crap in the bud.

by Israelhand on Wed Jan 25, 2006 at 07:04:58 PM PST

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It's great that the Dem Reps are standing up on their own and shooting back (especially when the State Party is in transition, and probably doesn't have the best possible footing for responding to this right now).

I'm sure that the local LDs will also make sure that this is part of their plan for when they hit the doors later this year.

I'm with Obama

by willisreed on Wed Jan 25, 2006 at 08:08:13 PM PST

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The postcards started arriving on Friday.  The state Dems were in the loop by Sunday, working behind the scenes, and issued a press release on Monday.

I think what we saw here was the perfect combination of action by bloggers, the party and the electeds, to get this issue maximum exposure.

by Goldy on Thu Jan 26, 2006 at 01:33:37 PM PST

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