TACOMA – An axiom of academic politics is that they tend to be very nasty because very little is at stake.

The axiom can sometimes be applied to partisan or “real” politics, particularly at a time like this, when one major party is trying to get its president re-elected and the other has a nominee with all the delegates he needs to be the nominee. Why, then, would sensible people give up their weekends, travel scores or hundreds of miles, and argue over seemingly minute changes in obscure rules, like Saturday morning’s debate on  whether would-be delegates to the national convention should speak for 30 seconds or 15 seconds when making the pitch to fellow partisans that they should have the privilege of traveling to Tampa, paying exorbitant rates for meals and hotel rooms?

Such rule changes may sound as esoteric as the old apocryphal debate on . . .

The most basic political position for either party is that of the Precinct Committee Officer, a job with no pay, limited authority, and the potential for significant demands on the office holder’s time.

In theory, Democrats and Republicans should each elect a PCO for each of Spokane County’s 314 precincts every two years, although in many years the parties often go begging for willing candidates, and when they find one, there’s no contest for the job.

Not this year. In 105 precincts, about a third of the county’s total, there will be contested elections. Almost all, 101 races, will be for Republican positions. In one precinct, a South Hill precinct near Roosevelt Elementary School, both parties have contested PCO races with two Democrats and three Republicans.

By comparison, less than a tenth of the precincts in King County have contested PCO races in the Aug. 7 election.

It’s a sign of the ongoing struggle between two factions of the local GOP,

To read the rest of this post, or to comment, click here to go inside the blog.

Welcome to the unpredictable, and often protracted, world of caucuses, Idaho Republicans.

The system the Idaho GOP set up for balloting led to a long night in Kootenai County, where as many as four ballots were needed to winnow the field down to a winner.

As colleague Jonathan Brunt reported from Lakeland High School in Rathdrum, the only person knocked out in the first round of balloting was Buddy Roemer. Who? you might well ask. Roemer is a former Louisiana governor who has been shut out of the plethora of GOP debates and is now running as an independent.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich was eliminated on the second ballot. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on the third, and the fourth ballot showdown between former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul went to Santorum. Not that it mattered because by then, the statewide winner was already decided.

Read Jonathan Brunt's account here.

To see a map of who won each Idaho county, click here.

Fromer Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney topped the field, but barely, in Spokane County.

Four years after dominating the county's caucuses, Texas Congressman Ron Paul slipped to third.

Here are the Spokane County results, according to Spokane County GOP Chairman Matthew Pederson:

1. Romney, 1,521

2. Santorum, 1,511

3. Paul, 1,340

4. Gingrich, 411

5. Undecided, 273

6. Write-ins, 10

Ron Paul talks to press after rally

About 1,000 people turned out to hear Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul on Friday at the Spokane Convention Center. He hit on many of the same things he did two weeks ago at a rally in the same location. But this time he also talked about revelations this week that two former United States senators believe that Saudi Arabia may have had involvement in the 9/11 attacks. He talked about that again in a press conference after his speech. He also talked about his campaign strategy and Super Tuesday. You can hear most of the press conference in the link above.

PHOTO: Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas speaks at a rally in Spokane on Friday. (AP Photo/Jed Conklin)

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, and possibly Congressman Ron Paul, are getting some help in their bids for the GOP presidential nomination from an unusual source: The Washington State Democratic Party.

The state party is targeting GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney with a blitz in advance of Saturday's GOP caucuses describing the former venture capitalist as having contributed to America's loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs rather than helping solve the worsening problem.

“Mitt Romney comes to Washington this week, bringing with him a failed manufacturing record of offshoring jobs as Governor of Massachusetts and CEO of Bain Capital,” the Democratic Party declared in advance of a morning event in Seattle.

Romney is arriving with two fresh victories under his belt, though Michigan was closer than his supporters had hoped.

Meanwhile, his campaign has scheduled a campaign stop Friday in Bellevue where people don't have to pay to see him. Romney's previous visits to the state have largely been fundraisers.

Two GOP presidential candidates who already held events in the Inland Northwest this month are headed back, Spokane County GOP Chairman Matthew Pederson announced today.

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum will hold a rally at noon Thursday at New Life Assembly Church, 10920 E. Sprague Ave.

Ron Paul will make his second appearance this campaign season at the Spokane Convention Center. He'll hold a rally there at noon Friday.

Santorum spoke earlier this month in Coeur d'Alene but has since mostly focused on Michigan where he hopes to pull off an upset in that state's primary today.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich spoke in Spokane last week. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney hasn't visited the area, though his son spoke to supporters in Spokane Valley last week.

Washington holds its GOP caucuses on Saturday. Idaho holds its caucuses on March 6, Super Tuesday.

With presidential candidates making their quadrennial stops in the Inland Northwest ahead of the caucuses, Republican voters might be wondering how to pick among the four remaining candidates.

After all, none of the four has very strong connections to the region, or has spent much time in the area when not on the campaign trail. And some haven’t even made so much a pit stop here yet.

Spin Control decided to get some insight from one fairly well-known Republican who served with at least three of the four would-be nominees. Former Rep. George Nethercutt was elected to the House in the historic GOP takeover engineered by Newt Gingrich, and served with Rick Santorum and Ron Paul during his six years there.

So who’s he backing? . . .

To read the rest of this item, or to comment, go inside the blog.

Ron Paul takes questions from the press

After his rally Friday night, Paul took questions from the media, which was almost entirely from local outlets. (The NBC cameraman told me that he's the last member of the national press who still is following Paul regularly.)

Ron Paul takes questions from the press

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul may not have won a state primary yet, but he remains a favorite to win Spokane County.

A standing-room-only crowd of about 2,300 shouted their support for Paul during his 45-minute speech Friday evening at the Spokane Convention Center.

Paul is the second Republican presidential candidate to visit the Inland Northwest this week as Washington and Idaho prepare for their presidential caucuses early next month. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum spoke to about 600 supporters in Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday.

Paul, who was introduced by state Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley, started his speech pointing to his strong base of support. In 2008, Paul finished first in the caucuses in Spokane County, capturing 46 percent of the vote.

“Four years ago I was told that there was a brush fire started here for the cause of liberty,” he said. “It looks like it’s much bigger than a brush fire right now.”

Paul, a Texas congressman who ran for the GOP nomination four years ago and was the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee in 1988, criticized the Iraq War and recent government bailouts of economic institutions.

“The people who should have had the depression got the bailout,” he said. “The American people ended up owning this debt.”

He called for less foreign intervention, halting the war on drugs, the repeal of the Patriot Act, an end to federal income taxes and a return to the gold standard.

GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. rally Friday evening at the Spokane Convention Center, and is picking up endorsements in and around Spokane.

State Rep. Matt Shea, Spokane County Treasurer Rob Chase, and Republican Central Committeemembers John Christina of Spokane and Karen Skoog of Elk all endorsed Paul, the campaign announced today.

Many of those endorsements come as  no surprise. Chase, like Paul, was once a Libertarian candidate; he became active in the Paul campaign in 2008 and was part of the Texas congressman's delegation that helped shape the Spokane County GOP platform.

Shea, R-Spokane Valley, shares many of Paul's views on state's rights, limited government and less spending. He was among legislators who met with GOP contender Rick Santorum on Monday, when the former Pennsylvania senator was in Olympia. Shea was complimentary of Santorum but said he wasn't endorsing him, adding he thought the Spokane Valley's 4th Legislative District would probably split between Santorum and Paul.

Christina was an alternate delegate to the 2008 convention for Paul.

Paul's visit is the latest sign of the increasing interest Washington and Idaho are drawing this year, as the GOP nomination contest continues with four candidates. Santorum was in Washington on Monday and Idaho on Tuesday.

Mitt Romney is scheduled for a fundraiser in Seattle on March 1, and either Romney or one of his family members may be in Spokane before the March 3 caucuses.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has no campaign events scheduled in the region at this time. “Stay tuned,” campaign spokesman Lew Moore said. Gingrich does expect to make a stop in Washington, and the campaign would like to have him visit both sides of the state, Moore added.

Washington Republicans held a “straw poll” over the last week of December to test the strength of the presidential candidate field. It pretty well mirrored Iowa and the nation…at that time.

Here's the breakdown, released yesterday by the Washington State Republican Party:

In that least week of 2011, Gingrich was starting to fade and Rick Santorum was just beginning an uptick in Iowa, and that can be read in to the Washington numbers. Swap those two results, and the top four look quite a bit like Iowa caucus results.

Remember: Washington is also a caucus state this year…as opposed to some strange hybrid of a caucus and a presidential primary, as it has been for the last couple of cycles.

Regular reader and longtime local activist Jon Tunig wrote this morning to decry the fact that the national media seems intent on ignoring GOP Presidential candidate and Texas Congressman Ron Paul.

He's correct, and probably no one is better at smacking down the national media than another Jon — Jon Stewart. This clip is from his Monday night show, which had several good bits on the Iowa Straw Poll. But this was by far the best.

Thousands of votes are still to be counted from Tuesday’s primary, but along with most races, some lessons are clear.
Lesson 1: It may be uncomfortable to be an incumbent this year, but it’s not fatal. Few incumbents were eliminated in the state’s unusual Top Two primary, but some clearly have their work ahead of them.
Count among them state Sen. Chris Marr, a Spokane businessman who received party acclaim four years ago as the first Democrat to win the seat in Spokane’s 6th District in six decades, but trails GOP challenger Mike Baumgartner in this primary.
Or ask Spokane County Prosecutor Steve Tucker, a three-term Republican incumbent who faced two party challengers and finished second to Democrat Frank Malone.
U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and most sitting House members had an easy primary night, five-term Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen is trading the lead with Republican challenger John Koster in northwestern Washington’s 2nd District.
For all the knock against establishment candidates…

Former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul endorsed Clint Didier in the U.S. Senate race in Washington state.

Paul, a Republican congressman from Texas who battled Sen. John McCain for the presidential nomination in 2008, called Didier a “dynamic leader who understands our Constitution and will fight against out-of-control government to restore our liberty.”

Paul’s announcement comes about two months after Didier received an endorsement from former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Although Paul didn’t win the nomination, it could carry weight in Washington state, where he did well in the precinct caucuses. It could also come with money from Paul’s political action committee, Liberty PAC.

Didier is trying to knock off Sen. Patty Murray, a three-term incumbent Democrat, but first has to finish first or second in Washington’s Top Two primary on Aug. 17. Because Murray is the only “name” Democrat in the race, she’s assumed to be a shoo-in for one spot in the 15-candidate field. That means Didier will have to beat out a field that includes former state Sen. Dino Rossi, a Republican with high name recognition from two previous statewide runs for governor.

Didier and Palin have called Rossi the GOP establishment candidate, and Didier has attempted to position himself as an outsider who is a true instrument of change. In a similar battle of establishment versus outsider candidacies in Kentucky, Paul’s son, Rand Paul, captured the GOP nomination.

Ron Paul’s endorsment press release can be found inside the blog.

After the weekend’s Conservative Political Action Committee meeting, the biggest talking point revolves around Rush Limbaugh and his role as the “leader” of the Republican Party.

Go inside the blog to view some of the videos that are fueling the debate.