Taking on a president and winning, as Washington state officials did with their lawsuit over travel ban, definitely raises one’s political profile.

Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson were both the subject of extensive national media coverage after the ban was put on hold by a federal judge in Seattle, and that order was upheld by a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

They were interviewed extensively on cable news shows, quoted extensively in the Washington Post and New York Times. This kind of profile raising comes at a time when Democrats are either floundering or regrouping – your choice of verb probably tells something about your party affiliation – to find new leaders on a national basis.

There even was some speculation about Inslee making his way to the national stage in 2020 if Democrats want to highlight a more progressive, environmental agenda. Washington Republicans seem divided on this, between those who say it’s so improbable it makes them laugh and those who say it’s so impossible it makes them salivate.

The 2020 national elections are so far away that it seems silly to speculate, but the 2020 state elections, while just as distant chronologically, have a different variable. Inslee would be finishing his second term, and no governor has served more than two terms since the 1970s. 

So Democrats are looking at their Triple-A team, and Ferguson seems to be in line for a call-up to the bigs. He’s shown an ability to swing for the fences and connect.

And even though pitchers and catchers will soon report to their teams, that’s probably enough baseball references for now.

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