In a sign of just how much the Obama administration wants Patty Murray to hold onto her Senate seat, Vice President Joe Biden is making a second campaign stop in Washington this month.

Biden will attend a rally with Murray in Vancouver next Tuesday at the Pearson Air Museum. That’s just 11 days after he attended a rally with Murray in Tacoma. And two days before President Obama attends a rally with Murray at the University of Washington campus in Seattle. And six days before First Lady Michelle Obama attends a luncheon and fundraiser for Murray in Bellevue.

Dino Rossi’s campaign called the visits “a lineup of D.C. insiders comoing into town to bailout her campaign.” 

TACOMA – Despite Friday’s reports of unemployment stuck at 9.6 percent and a net loss of jobs nationwide, Vice President Joe Biden urged voters to stick with Sen. Patty Murray and other Democrats next month.
Jobs are returning in the auto industry and other parts of the private sector, he said, and the economy is growing – “not enough, but it is growing.” He tried to shift the blame to the Bush administration and said Republicans would return to those policies if they take back Congress.
“These Republicans put us in such a god-awful hole and we’re just beginning to crawl out of it,” Biden told a crowd estimated at 1,000 that gathered in light sprinkles on the University of Washington Tacoma campus mall. “We have seen this movie before and it’s a horror movie.”
Even before Biden and Murray stepped on the stage in Tacoma, however, her Republican challenger Dino Rossi was pointing to Friday’s stagnant unemployment figures as a failure for the Obama administration and Democrats like Murray who supported their policies.
Democrats had touted a “recovery summer” just a few months ago, and claimed last year’s economic stimulus package would keep unemployment from going above 8 percent, Rossi said. It has been above 9.5 percent for 14 straight months.
“Instead of admitting she was wrong to support this $1.2 trillion jobless stimulus, Sen. Murray is holding a rally with Vice President Biden who has touted this bill as a rousing success,” he said. “We know that passing tax relief, paying down the national debt will get our economy back on track and encourage small business to expand.”

TACOMA — Wall Street played “Russian roulette” with the nation’s future and shouldn’t be allowed to do it again, Sen. Patty Murray told a cheering crowd of about 1,000 here.

“I vowed on my watch Main Street will never again be left holding the bag by Wall Street,” she said.

Vice President Joe Biden continued the theme, saying big money is pouring into the state to defeat Democrats because some people are frightened that “we’re beginning reassert the right of the middle class, to have a middle class.”

People are underestimating Democrats nationally, writing their politica obituaries too soon, Biden said.

“They said the Huskies couldn’t beat USC  on Saturday, but they did,” said Biden, who was sporting a purple UW hat.

TACOMA —Signalling how close Washington’sSenate race is, Gov. Chris Gregoire told a crowd at the University of Washington branch campus that control of Congress is at stake in the election that’s just 25 days away.

Gregoire took shots at a series of Republican candidates around the country before turning to the state contest.

“I happen to know Dino Rossi,” said Gregoire, who ran twice against the Republican for governor. “He does not represent our values.”

TACOMA — Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy, warming up the crowd this morning for Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Patty Murray, hit the themes of the Democratic Party for the mid term election.

She drew jeers from the partisan crowd for Sarah Palin, Karl Rove and Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, and cheers when she urged them to vote against Republicans who would take the country “back to the George W. Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.”

TACOMA — Vice President Joe Biden campaigns with Sen. Patty Murray here this morning on the University of Washington branch campus.

The Murray campaign apparently trusts the weather, or the crowd’s willingness to stand in the rain. It’s outside, and drops are starting to fall.

Republican Dino Rossi’s campaign says Biden’s appearance, as well as upcoming visits by First Lady Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton, are signs that Murray is in a tough race and desperate.

We’ll be blogging live from UW Tacoma campus as things happen.

Vice President Joe Biden will attend a rally in Tacoma on Oct. 8 with Sen. Patty Murray, her campaign said today.

All details of the rally aren’t available yet, but it will be at the University of Washington Tacoma campus and registration starts at 9 a.m.

First Lady Michelle Obama is expected in Seattle later in the month.

What is it with vice presidents and the F-bomb?

Vice President Joe Biden dropped the expletive in front of a microphone right after introducing President Obama at today’s signing ceremony for the health care legislation. Obama’s press secretary later made light of the incident in this Tweet.

In 2004, Vice President Dick Cheney admitted directing the word toward Sen. Patrick Leahy.

Saturday Night Live has proved it can take shots at the Obama Administration just as it did at the Bush Admin.

For those of you who went to bed at a reasonable hour, and either forgot to set your recorder or pushed the wrong buttons, here’s the Cold Open that makes fun of Vice President Biden.

At the newspaper, reporters like to talk about the Spokane vortex, in which almost every big national and international event has a link to this part of the country. Yesterday’s big press conference on health care, where Vice President Joe Biden talked about hospitals pitching in, was no exception.

Standing next to Biden in this AP photo is Rich Umbdenstock, who until about three years ago was president of Providence & Services. He’s now president of the American Hospital Association, hence the invite to the big press conference.

There’s no picture of Vice President Joe Biden in the federal building, reader Carol Nestor notes.

There’s a full-color shot of President Barack Obama on the walls, but no Biden, anywhere. What gives?

Turns out there’s no photos of Biden in federal buildings anywhere. Ross Buffington of the regional office for the General Services Administration — them’s the folks that operate and maintain federal buildings — says the official Biden photo hasn’t arrived yet, although the official Obama portrait shot arrived back in March and went up then.

So is this normal?

Hard to say….

If you slept in or went to church on Sunday morning, here’s what they were talking about,  courtesy of TalkingPointsMemo.

Vice President Joe Biden offers suggestions on avoiding the swine flu on Thursday’s “Today Show.”