I-1029 has turned in nearly 317,000 signatures, according to campaign manager Jeff Parsons.

Parsons said he's confident that the measure will withstand any challenge regarding the initiative-to-the-legislature wording error on the form. (See below)

"With almost 317,000 people signing this, it's definitely something people want," he said of the initiative, which would mandate more training and background checks for some home health care workers. "Let the people decide."

After planning to submit their signatures an hour ago -- and with today's 5 p.m. deadline looming -- proponents of I-1029 are reportedly working their way south on an Interstate 5 crowded with holiday traffic.

Waiting capitol reporters from papers across the state entertained themselves by snapping photos of each other with a large cardboard cutout of George Washington that someone propped up in a corner of the state Elections Division office.

Stay tuned.

In 50 minutes, proponents of Initiative 1029 are scheduled to deliver thousands of petitions to the Secretary of State's office in Olympia. Presumably, they'll have enough signatures to get the measure -- which would mandate more training and background checks for some health workers -- on the ballot.

Meanwhile, however, the Community Care Coalition of Washington is rattling its legal sabers over a mistake on the petitions. Instead of saying that I-1029 is an initiative to the people, the petitions wrongly state that it's an initiative to the Legislature. While I suspect the vast majority of petition signers are unlikely to know the difference (or care), the coalition's attorneys argue otherwise, saying it's not a meaningless error.

"To ignore these basic and constitutional differences in the two forms of initiative would underrate the voters of this State and their understanding of the options for the exercise of direct democracy," write attorneys Kathleen Benedict and Narda Pierce.

The petitions are wrong, they write, and "it would be a dangerous precedent" to allow them to put the measure on the ballot.

"Voters are entitled to notice and clarity as they make their decisions on initiative petitions," they write, urging Secretary of State Sam Reed to reject the petitions.

Reed's election officials, who have said they consider the error a minor, harmless one, say they'll accept the petitions.

My guess: If foes have the cash, this is probably headed straight to court.

As for measure's backers, they've largely been maintaining radio silence in the past few days as word of the error spread. The only notice I and other Olympia reporters have received about the scheduled turn-in of petitions has come from the Secretary of State's office. And a spokesman for the group said yesterday that they don't plan a news conference at the turn-in.

Interesting ruling out of the state Supreme Court this morning.

Michael Livingston, while incarcerated at the state's Olympic Corrections Center, filed what would otherwise be a routine public-records request. He asked for the training records of a particular prison guard.

The Department of Correction copied the file and mailed it to Livingston, who by then had been transferred to the state's Cedar Creek prison.

At Cedar Creek, the packet was opened, read, and confiscated as part of the prison's security screening. Livingston simply got a note saying the prison superintendent did not permit DOC employee records to be released to inmates. The agency offered to mail it to someone else -- outside prison -- if Livingston wished.

Livingston (or anyone else) was allowed to see the document under state public-records law, in other words, but banned from getting it by the prison's mail policy. To Livingston, that's like simultaneously saying he can have the records and that he can't.

Livingston appealed, getting denied by the prison superintendent, a Thurston County judge, and a state appeals court. The appeals court said the state's public records law doesn't require the state to "guarantee that mailed documents will be physically received by the person making the request." (In a dissent, one of appeals court judges was skeptical that an officer's training records could undermine prison security.)

Writing for the 5-4 majority, Justice Barbara Madsen said it's one thing to release records to the public, but another to allow them inside a prison. And prisons, she said, have broad discretion to deny things they deem security threats:

"...Considerable deference must be given to prison administrators to regulate communications between prisoners and the outside world," she wrote.

And the fact that DOC offered to mail the information to someone else, Justice Madsen said, suggests that the agency's not trying to dodge disclosure of the information.

In a dissent, Justice Jim Johnson said the law is clear: an open public record is available to anyone.

The state's public records law, as a broad statute approved by voters, Johnson argues, should trump prison security policy when they conflict. It's not enough, he said, for the prison system to have "mailed the record to itself" and claim that it complied with public disclosure.

For court-watchers, this ruling (mostly) repeats a classic 5-4 split on a court that's seen a number of those on high-profile cases recently. But note that new Justice Debra Stephens didn't weigh in on this ruling, because she wasn't yet in office when it was argued. The justice Stephens replaced, Bobbe Bridge, sided with the majority in this case.

Stephens, however, has been hailed by open-records proponent as a strong voice on that issue, largely because of a ruling she made last year as an appeals court judge. From the ruling:

"Administrative inconvenience or difficulty does not excuse strict compliance" with the public records law, Stephens wrote, in a case involving a flurry of records requests to the small Franklin County city of Mesa.

Although she's not appearing regularly in the court's rulings yet -- there's typically a months-or even years-long long lag time between arguments and rulings -- Spokane-raised Stephens is already an outspoken, incisive questioner during oral arguments in Olympia.

Gov. Gregoire, who appointed Stephens, has said she hopes Stephens' collegial nature will help unify the court. As the court issues rulings in which Stephens has participated -- it will be interesting to see if Stephens changes the dynamic on records -- and other -- cases.

Disclosure: One of Michael Livingston's attorneys was Duane Swinton, a Spokane attorney who has also done a numerous public-records cases for the Spokesman-Review.

Controversial initiative pitchman Tim Eyman, whose been booted from meetings and once got pied in the face by political opponents, this week faced a new challenge: the lawnmower man.

Eyman on Tuesday got ready to file his latest initiative petitions, enough to put I-985 on the ballot. A relentless publicity seeker, he called a press conference to announce the victory on the steps of a state building next to the state capitol. But as a TV crew and a couple of newspaper reporters arrived, a state groundskeeper on a riding lawnmower happened to be roaring away just across the street.

"Mow the lawn some other day!" Eyman shouted, as the man obliviously piloted his rig around stone steps and shrubs and sidewalks.

"We're the Rodney Dangerfield of politics," Eyman said, launching into his spiel anyway. "No respect."

Reading from prepared remarks, he touted the measure as a tool in the fight against traffic congestion. He estimates it would raise about $150 million a year for anti-congestion work. Most of that money, however, would be diverted from the general fund, which pays for things like schools and health care. The measure would open up car-pool lanes to everyone during off-peak hours, require more synchronizing of traffic lights, and do away with a requirement that transportation projects set aside half a percent of the cost for public art. Instead, the art money would be spent on anti-congestion work.

Among the things critics are unhappy with: the measure would do nothing to boost busing or other public transit.

But midway through Eyman's spiel, a rumbling Olympia city bus pulled up at the curb, a few feet away. Then it began beeping.

"The Sierra Club," he joked, raising his voice to be heard. "The Sierra Club sent out a bus to disrupt our meeting. They are nefarious."

Its passenger dropped off, the bus rumbled off.

From this morning's paper:

Former Gov. Booth Gardner and a crowd of supporters Wednesday filed nearly 320,000 signatures with state election officials, cementing Washington's role at the center of the national debate over assisted suicide.

Initiative 1000, which would allow terminally ill people to get a prescription to end their own lives, is now all but certain to go to voters on the November ballot.

The only other state with a similar law is Oregon, where last year 85 terminally ill people applied for prescriptions. Of those, 49 used the lethal drugs. "I think we're going to go all the way," said Gardner, who has Parkinson's disease. "I'll bet on it." In fact, he has bet on it: Gardner has personally contributed $120,000 of the $1.3 million the campaign has raised so far, according to campaign finance reports.

Signing the final petition Wednesday was Nancy Niedzielski, a Lynnwood woman who two years ago watched her husband, Randy, die of brain cancer. As death approached, he became incontinent, deaf, unable to control his limbs or close his eyes.

"This is for you, Randy," Niedzielski said, looking skyward with glistening eyes after she signed her name. "I love you most of all and then some."

In his final days, she said, her husband asked her to try to change the law to allow for lethal prescriptions in such cases. She personally gathered more than 1,600 signatures for what she and other proponents are calling the "Death with Dignity" measure.

"One step forward," Niedzielski said, standing before dozens of supporters on the steps of the Capitol. "On to November."

"We've crossed the first hurdle and we've crossed it cleanly, with room to spare," said Gardner, who said 170,000 of the signatures were gathered by volunteers. He said the campaign will focus on fundraising now. I-1000 proponents, citing similar campaigns in other states, are worried about a flood of money from opponents, particularly the Catholic Church.

At the base of the Capitol steps Wednesday stood about 40 opponents, holding a "No to assisted suicide!" banner and reciting the Hail Mary and the Lord's Prayer. Gardner briefly quieted the opponents, asking that they respect him enough to not drown out his comments.

But as proponents headed inside the Capitol to deliver the petitions, opponents began singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

"I think the fact that it's now on the ballot, it's the difference between flirting and dating," said Duane French, a quadriplegic man who has been speaking out for months against the measure.

Full print story here.

Gov. Chris Gregoire's campaign says that the Building Industry Association of Washington, fresh from a month of radio ads, appears poised to launch new anti-Gregoire ads on TV. The group's been checking media-buy records at TV stations.

"It is no surprise that Republican Dino Rossi's biggest special interest friends would sign a blank check to try and buy the Governor's mansion," said Gregoire campaign spokesman Aaron Toso.

Another PAC, calling itself Evergreen Progress, appears to be mounting a similar anti-Rossi effort. The group has raised more than $1 million, much of it from public-employee- and other unions, as well as from the Democratic Governors' Association.

Tim Eyman's I-985, which opens carpool lanes at off-peak times and shifts some tax- and traffic-fine dollars into anti-congestion projects, looks like it'll be on the November ballot.

It takes 224,880 signatures from Washington registered voters to put a proposal on the ballot. Eyman and supporters Jack and Mike Fagan this afternoon said they've turned in 299,019, with more still coming in.

In an unusual move, Eyman took out a line of credit on his home to help pay for the signatures, appealing to supporters to help him pay it off. So far, he's spent $130,000 of that, he said.

Half a dozen Democratic state lawmakers -- all of them from districts with large rural areas -- today called on the state's attorney general to weigh in on whether a city can ban otherwise-legal firearms from city property.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels recently issued such an executive order:

"It is the policy of the City of Seattle, acting in its proprietary capacity, to adopt and enforce policies, rules, and contractual agreements that, consistent with state law, prohibit the possession of dangerous weapons, including firearms, on City property."

"I'd like to know whether cities like Seattle can set aside the Bill of Rights when you walk onto city property," Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, said in a press release today. He said he thinks such a ban "infringes on the right of citizens to legally carry a gun."

"There's a lot of questions, but I would also like to know if state laws are being pre-empted by Seattle's mayor," he said.

The other lawmakers signing the letter include:
-Sen. Brian Hatfield, D-Raymond
-Rep. Dean Takko, D-Longview
-Rep. Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen
-Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam
-and Rep. Chris Hurst, D-Enumclaw.

Although all are running for re-election this year, three of them -- Hatfield, Takko and Blake -- are running unopposed.

Washington lawmakers ran into a similar issue firsthand several years ago, when they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars installing and staffing metal detectors and X-ray machines at the entrances to the state capitol.

But because lawmakers have long been reluctant to go the extra step and ban firearms in the building, the screenings led to a bizarre result: security staff were confiscating things like hammers, screwdrivers and pepper spray, but anyone with a concealed weapons permit was free to pass through, pistol, bullets and all.

The leased machines were soon removed.

That's what the latest Elway Poll asked hundreds of registered voters in Washington recently.

The upshot: 75 percent correctly said Republican.

But the poll found that

"One in 7 did not know and 1 in 14 thought GOP referred to the Democratic Party."

Among them: more than a quarter of people describing themselves as independents or Democrats.

The question is particularly relevant for the Republicans running with the words "prefers GOP Party" on the ballot, such as gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi. Rossi's campaign -- citing his longtime use of the acronym -- has denied that using "GOP" is a move to obscure the fact that in a blue-leaning state, Rossi's a Republican. But those independents and Democrats are exactly the ones Rossi's going to have to try to win over.

Starting with the 2009 model year, new cars sold in Washington must meet strict California emission standards. Buy a car that doesn't and you're in for a shock: You won't be able to register it in Washington.

Here's our story.

-Joe Turner reports that this week, thousands of Washingtonians are about to lose Medicaid coverage because they can't show proof that they're U.S. citizens.

-Chris Mulick writes a lengthy postmortem on how Gov. Chris Gregoire's lukewarm reception for a large-but-controversial $2 billion uranium enrichment plant proposed for the Tri-Cities helped land the project...in Idaho.

-The Elway Poll, via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, says that Gregoire is leading presumptive Republican opponent Dino Rossi 47 percent to 39 percent.

-and Jerry Cornfield reports that someone's torched some of state Sen. Val Stevens' campaign signs.

Not a lot of suspense on this one, but the Washington Education Association has endorsed Randy Dorn, a (different) union official running to oust state Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson.

The WEA is at odds with Bergeson, it's former president, over her support for the controversial Washington Assessment of Student Learning tests and what the union sees as an ongoing lack of school funding.

Dorn is also endorsed by the union he heads, the Public School Employees of Washington, which represents bus drivers, food workers, custodians, tutors and other working in schools.

Also today, Richland School Superintendent Rich Semler, a popular candidate who dropped out of the race recently over family health issues, endorsed Dorn.

The new Top Two primary isn't the only big change in elections going on out there.

In November, voters in Pierce County will elect county officials with so-called "Ranked Choice Voting," a complex system that advocates say will iron out some of the major drawbacks in how people are elected. State election officials certified the county's voting equipment for the new system last month. Pierce County voters approved the change two years ago.

Under the system, also known as instant runoff voting, Pierce County voters list their top three choices for each office, from favorite to least. The results will be tallied, with the lowest vote-getters subtracted, until some candidate gets a majority of votes.

Proponents say the system guarantees widespread support for whoever wins and also allows people to support minor candidates without feeling that they're throwing their vote away. Pierce County is so far the only WA county that votes this way.

Starting this week, Washington smokers covered by Medicaid can get more help quitting, including things like nicotine-replacement patches or gum.

Although smoking rates have declined sharply, the percentage of smokers remains high among low-income people, according to the state Department of Social and Health Service.

"The new benefit will make a real difference in the lives of people who can least afford to get help quitting smoking," state Health Secretary Mary Selecky, a Colville native, said last week.

The smoking rate in Washington has dropped 24 percent since 2000, when the state launched a tobacco-prevention program and began ramping up tobacco taxes. That works out to about 235,000 fewer smokers in Washington.

And since smokers tend to have more health problems – and the state is a health provider for thousands of primarily low-income people – fewer smokers tend to mean lower costs to taxpayers. (The federal Centers for Disease Control estimate that an average of 14 percent of Medicaid costs are related to smoking.)

The smoking decline in just the past eight years, DSHS estimates, will mean $2.1 billion in future health-cost savings. (NOTE: I'm still waiting to hear back from the state re: how much this change will cost.)

Even for those not on Medicaid, Washington provides a free "Tobacco Quit Line" – 1-800-QUIT-NOW or I-800-2NO-FUME in Spanish – for information, advice and "quit kits."

Since 2000, DSHS says, more than 100,000 people have called.

More...

As Washington's cell-phone ban takes effect this week, an insurance company said its poll indicates that Washingtonians want a tougher ban.

Seattle-based PEMCO Insurance says that 60 percent of the people it polled think that gabbing on a cell phone while piloting a car down the street should, by itself, be enough to get a person pulled over and cited.

The new law takes a softer approach. Talking or texting is banned unless you're not using your hands, but it's a "secondary offense," meaning police can only pull you over if you're also breaking some other law. This is how the mandatory seatbelt law started out, before the tougher "click it or ticket" law.

Nearly three quarters of the people polled, PEMCO said, think the Jan. 1, 2008 ban on text-messaging-while-driving should become a primary offense.

But here's the rub: the same poll indicates that the same people calling for tougher cell-phone laws are the same ones who say they're using theirs more on the road.

"Despite these increases, drivers maintain that their biggest safety concern while driving relates to cell phone usage," the company said.

More from the in-box...

Now that veteran Associated Press reporter Dave Ammons has gone to the dark side – i.e. gone to work as a state-paid spokesman – he's gone from his dual role as the longtime host of "Inside Olympia," a weekly interview show on the TVW public-affairs network. (In Spokane, it's Comcast channel 25.)

In Ammons' place: Austin Jenkins, a public radio capitol correspondent whose mild-mannered delivery camouflages a knack for asking probing questions.

The interview-style show isn't likely to replace primetime. But it’s a rare long-form look at the minds, motivations and goals of elected officials, from obscure agencies to the governor and top lawmakers. It typically airs Thursday-, Saturday- and Sunday nights.

Let's see what's in the e-mail in-box, shall we?

Get a job, kid: OK, so your kid put off trying to find a summer job, and now it looks like it's too late.

Take heart, says the state Employment Security Department, which says its "Worksource" offices can help. More and more teens, the agency says, simply aren't looking for work.

"We have a lot of online job postings that would be suitable for teens and other entry-level workers," department commissioner Karen Lee said a press release.

The offices also help people – teens or not -- write a resume and prepare for job interviews. To look at job listings or find a local office, go to www.go2worksource.com.

It's true that summer jobs are harder to find, according to employment data. Department economist Scott Bailey said teens tend to work in things like restaurants, retails stores, farming and construction, all of which have seen declines in jobs recently. One teen-heavy sector that hasn't declined, he said, is the hospitality industry.

Most teens who work have the job year-round, he said. But he said that both nationwide and in Washington, there's a strong trend "toward teens not working at all."

In a new twist on the governor's race, a decades-old Seattle Italian-American club on Wednesday blasted the state Democratic Party for using the Sopranos TV theme song as the backdrop to a recent video critical of Republican Dino Rossi.

The group was unhappy -- really unhappy -- with what it views as an attempt to link Rossi's Italian-American heritage to mobsters. When I called him, Italian Club of Seattle president Brian DiJulio likened the ad to running an image of "Little Black Sambo" in a campaign ad about an African-American candidate.

"Italian Americans are the only ones who seem to be discriminated against and it's seen as OK," he said. "There's just right and there's wrong and it's time for Italian-Americans to say we're not mobsters. We're governors and lawyers and doctors and priests."

"This is clearly a smear tactic on their part," he said. DiJulio said he doesn't consider himself either a Republican or Democrat.

The group is calling for the video to be yanked from the Web, for a public apology from the party (and Gov. Chris Gregoire) and for the resignation of state party chairman Dwight Pelz.

The state GOP echoed much of that, saying that:

“Gov. Gregoire’s political operatives have engaged in bigotry with this web video in order to shift the focus away from the ethical clouds surrounding Gregoire."

That's from Luke Esser, state Republican Party chairman, who pronounced the sound track offensive, shameful, unacceptable, insulting and outrageous.

"What’s next? Dino is also part Tlingit, Alaskan Native. Are they going to attack him for that, too?"

Esser asked.

A spokesman for Gregoire's campaign referred me to the state Democratic Party, which this evening issued an apology -- sort of -- and said it will replace the ad's audio track.

"Our video is in no way meant to allege or imply that Republican Dino Rossi or his extremist, right-wing developer allies have ties to the mafia or organized crime,"

state party spokesman Kelly Steele wrote in an e-mail. He said it's a catchy song that "jibed stylistically" with the ad's message.

"That being said, we'd like to apologize to Rossi's friend Mr. DiJulio, his organization, and anyone else we may have inadvertently offended,"

Steele wrote. The video will remain the same, he said, just with a different song.

Steele also noted that Rossi himself has repeatedly referenced The Sopranos while campaigning. He cited a Rossi speech yesterday on Mercer Island, in which Rossi criticized the state's high gas, alcohol and liquor taxes.

"If we raised them any more," Rossi reportedly told the crowd, "Tony Soprano would want to get some of that action."

Print story's here.

In a new ad that seems designed to counter the Building Industry Association of Washington's radio spots painting the Gov. Chris Gregoire as soft on sex offenders, Gregoire's campaign is now running an ad that blasts opponent Dino Rossi on the issue.

"It's Dino Rossi who wrote the budget that cut millions from supervising felons," the ad says, saying the cuts meant that 14,000 felons would no longer be monitored.

"It's Gov. Chris Gregoire who cleaned up Dino Rossi's mess," the ad says. "Crime is now at a 14 year low, and no one's been tougher on sex offenders." It cites a crackdown program Gregoire launched, broader DNA registration, tougher sentences and increased use of electronic tracking.

Rossi's campaign spokeswoman, Jill Strait, countered by accusing the governor of "spreading lies in order to cover up her own shameless record on public safety." She called Gregoire's "Operation Crackdown" on sex offenders a "$200,000 PR effort" and said the state still doesn't know the whereabouts of 1,300 sex offenders. She also blasted Gregoire for the Department of Corrections' early release of thousands of felons.

Lots more of this to come, folks.

It turns out that there's an errror on the thousands of petitions being signed to put Initiative 1029 on the ballot in November. In language presumably carried over from an earlier draft of the measure, the form says that it's actually a petition to the state Legislature, rather than straight to the fall ballot.

That technical mistake could have been a very expensive one, potentially torpedoing the measure and the hundreds of the thousands of dollars spent gathering signatures. So far, campaign-finance reports have shown that the vast majority of the money has been put up by the Service Employees International Union. (The measure would require more training and better background checks of some health-care workers.)

"It's a big thing," said Eddie Agazarm, co-owner of the Olympia-based signature-gathering firm Citizen Solutions. (The company's not working on I-1029.) The error was discovered by one of his workers. Agazarm notified state election officials about the problem this morning.

"I don't see how it could be" allowed on the ballot, he said this morning. "Right on the front of the petition, it says it's going to the Legislature."

But the Secretary of State's office says the mistake's not a show-stopper.

"Our office determined that it was not a fatal flaw or that would-be signers were misled," said Dave Ammons, a spokesman for the office. He sent out a statement from assistant elections director Shane Hamlin, who said:

"Our office is authorized to reject petitions, but not required to do so. This error does not rise to a level that suggests voters were misinformed as a result of the error or that a signer would have acted otherwise if the petition correctly stated that it is an initiative to the people."

Agazarm was surprised by the decision. He cited an e-mail he got earlier this year from Adam Glickman, a spokesman for SEIU 775NW, which was lobbying for more technical requirements for ballot measures. In it, Glickman pointed out that petition rules must be followed if signatures are to count:

There are plenty of existing reasons voter’s valid signatures are excluded. If the sponsor prints petitions on the wrong size paper, otherwise valid signatures don’t count. If the sponsor fails to print the correct warning on the petition otherwise valid signatures don’t count. If the sponsor fails to accurately print the title or summary or initiative text on the petition otherwise valid signatures don’t count.

Glickman wrote at the time.

"It's worse than ignoring it," Agazarm said of the Secretary of State's decision about the error. "They're going to acknowledge it and accept the signatures. I guess we can just ignore all these election laws."

Print story's here.

My phone and e-mail will undoubtedly light up tomorrow when this story runs, but a state report released Tuesday suggests that total state and local taxes in Washington are actually a bit below average nationwide.

When taxes are weighed against personal income, Washington came in 28th highest among the states. Idaho came in 29th. (All the numbers are from 2006 data.)

"Washington is pretty much in the middle of the pack, tax-wise," said Mike Gowrylow, a spokesman for the state Department of Revenue, which compiles the annual report.

To be sure, there some wince-inducing standouts: Washington's highest-in-America gas tax of nearly 38 cents, for example. Liquor tax here is also among the highest in the nation, and at about $2.03 per pack, we have the fourth-highest cigarette tax.

Still, there's no state income tax, and the data released Tuesday suggests that even the state's property taxes compared to average income are relatively modest compared to other states: Washington ranks 29th on that measure. Idaho was 30th.

"I don't doubt that some people are stressed by taxes, particularly people with limited incomes and valuable homes," said Gowrylow. And it's true, he said, that residents in some rural counties that only recalculate a property's value every four years have suffered sticker shock at steep rises in the assessed value.

But compared to personal income, he said, property taxes in Washington are "well below the national average."

For every $1,000 in income, a typical Washingtonian paid about $112 in state and local taxes in 2006, the report says. Idahoans paid about 40 cents less.

Ignore income and the disparity looks much greater. On a per capita basis, Washington taxes are then 18th highest in the nation. Idaho's become 45th.

That's because Washington is a much richer state than Idaho, which at $31,031 in 2006 had one of the lowest per capita incomes in the nation. (Washington's was $39,705.)

The conservative Tax Foundation has a different view of things, giving Washington poor marks (and Idaho good marks) for state- and local government spending on a per capita basis. You can read that group's report here.

I can't recall the last time I heard the state Democratic Party highlighting a Fox News video, but they want to make sure you see this one. It highlights the fact that 28 Republicans are going by GOP, no party, or some other term on the state's new "Top Two" primary ballot. Among the folks in the video: Spokane County Republican chairman Curt Fackler, whose running for state insurance commissioner with no party designation listed.

Decrying "another blitz of radio attacks," Gov. Chris Gregoire's campaign this afternoon sent out an appeal to beat back the criticism -- with cash.

"These attack ads smack of Karl Rove and George Bush's style of politics," reads the e-mail, "and offer more proof that we can't trust our Republican opponent with our future."

"Please make a contribution to send a message that we deserve better than the dirty politics of George Bush Republicans," the message continues.

To counter the Building Industry Association of Washington's criticism, Gregoire's campaign has set up its own "fight the attacks" web page here.

Note: We may need a third web page to truth-squad the truth-squadders. On Gregoire's response page, her campaign claims that BIAW "attacks Gov. Gregoire for stopping the largest expansion of gambling in state history," as if blackjack-crazed builders are battering the doors of the capitol, demanding more casinos. Not quite. The criticism was over Democrats accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from tribes with large casino operations after Gov. Chris Gregoire -- the state's top Democrat -- signed a significant expansion in gambling. Gregoire did veto a proposed agreement that would have allowed a bigger expansion, it's true, but the central criticism seems to be over the political donations.

Running for office -- or even thinking about it? Here's a hint: Buy your domain name before your critics do.

State Attorney General candidate John Ladenburg got an unpleasant suprise last week when he found that a staffer for the King County Republicans had bought the rights to the domain names www.johnladenburg.com and www.johnladenburg.org. They were registered by Matthew Lundh, treasurer and political director of the Republican group. Whois records show that the sites were registered last November. (Lundh said he saw Ladenburg listed as a candidate on a Christmas party invitation from the Democrats -- months before Ladenburg announced he was running.)

Ladenburg, a Democrat, calls himself "the rightful owner" of that domain and said he "wonders if the web identity will be used to build a Republican website misleading voters" about his career and record.

In an interesting sentence, Ladenburg said that the purchase of a site with his name by someone else "is not a crime, but it is purposeful, and if used to spread lies and misleading information, then I do consider it a type of theft." He'd rather you visit www.ladenburg.org.

Lundh said he had no plans to put up a hit website.

"I registered it more to make a point," he said. The point: that someone who's made identity theft and cybercrime a key part of his criticism of Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna should at least know enough about the internet to buy his own name.

"He's kind of way out of his league here," said Lundh. "You'd think he probably would have registered this 15 years ago."

Lundh said he'll happily transfer the sites to Ladenburg if he's reimbursed for the $7.95 or so he paid for each. He said neither Ladenburg nor anyone from his campaign has ever contacted him.

"If they want them, they can have them," he said.

So, you ask, what other domains are still available out there? A quick check shows that all the major "gregoire" domains have been bought up, although apparently mostly by Gregoires who have no obvious link to Gov. Chris Gregoire. All the "rossi" domains: also gone.

Surprisingly, www.chrisgregoire.biz remains available, as does www.dinorossi.biz. At least for now.