u 2012 Washington General Election

According to local gun distributors, the only benefit of President Barack Obama’s attempts at gun control is that guns are flying off the shelves. “If he was looking for a way to completely deplete the stock of firearms in the country, he’s succeeded,” one Spokane Valley gun store owner said. Read more

The horns will trumpet the arrival of Central Valley High School’s marching band in Washington, D.C., this week for a celebration that only happens every four years. President Barack Obama starts his second term in office Sunday followed Monday by a public inauguration and a parade of festivities featuring musicians from every state. Read more

WASHINGTON — More tough talk from Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers today. The House Republican Conference chairwoman disputed any suggestion the GOP was engaging in irresponsible threats by acknowledging its willingness to shut down the government over federal spending policies. Instead, she said it’s President Barack Obama’s position that should be seen as troubling. “He said it would be irresponsible and absurd to shut down,” McMorris Rodgers said in a phone interview. … Read more

When President Barack Obama is inaugurated for his second term next month, a local marching band will represent Washington state in the parade. The Central Valley High School marching band and color guard announced on its Facebook page Tuesday they will perform during the parade. While the application and selection process happened in the last couple of weeks, the band has been planning the trip for months. While there, they will also participate in a music festival in Baltimore. Read more

At a White House press conference today, President Barack Obama announced a group of high-level federal officials, headed by Vice President Joe Biden, will look at ways to reduce gun violence.  The White House press corps mainly asked about negotiations on the “fiscal cliff”, but in for the last question, Jake Tappermanaged to rile Obama by bringing the focus back to a possible assault weapon ban, and what the president has — or hasn't — done about it. From the official White House transcript: Q    It seems to a lot of observers that you made the political calculation in 2008 in your first term and in 2012 not to talk about gun violence.  You had your position on renewing the ban on semiautomatic rifles that then-Senator Biden put into place, but you didn’t do much about it.  This is not the first issue — the first incident of horrific gun violence of your four years.  Where have you been?      THE PRESIDENT:  Well, here’s where I’ve been, Jake.  I’ve been President of the United States dealing with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, an auto industry on the verge of collapse, two wars.  I don’t think I’ve been on vacation. … Read more

OLYMPIA – Forget what the news media told you six weeks ago: Barack Obama was elected to his second term as president Monday. His election was finalized through a process that the Founding Fathers dreamed up in 1787 and has confounded Americans pretty regularly since. Read more

Rick Lloyd of Spokane Valley, center, and other members of Washington's Electoral College sign paperwork to cast the state's electoral votes for Barack Obama. OLYMPIA – Forget what the news media told you six weeks ago. Barack Obama was elected to his secondterm as president Monday in a process that the Founding Fathers dreamed up in 1787 and has confounded Americans pretty regularly since. The Electoral College – which doesn’t have a mascot, a fight song or even a campus – met at noon Monday in state capitals around the nation and awarded votes to Obama or Mitt Romney based on the general election results. Each state gets one elector for each member of the U.S. … Read more

OLYMPIA — The next president of the United States will be elected today. Barring some real skullduggery so remote it can't be mapped out here, that will be Barack Obama. What? You thought Obama was re-elected more than a month ago? It was in all the papers, and on all the cable news networks — even Fox News after Karl Rove calmed down? Not exactly. … Read more

Senate Democrats may decry the filibuster now, but in 2005, when they were in the minority, they were all for it.  Note the young guy speaking in favor of it at the start. Sen. Patty Murray shows up about 1:40 in. Read more

After spending the Apple Cup as a Cougar fan in the midst of Huskies, it strikes me that would-be secessionists could learn a lot from the annual intrastate rivalry. That’s saying quite a bit about the position on the outer ring of craziness of those petitioning the White House to leave the Union, considering the passion that accompanies the game.  For those who have willingly tuned out from presidential politics since Nov. 6, an explanation: Folks disgruntled with the outcome of the election have filed petitions on the White House website to allow their state to secede from the country. Read more

If pollster Matt Barreto is right, then Latino voters in Washington were one of the key factors in Gov.-elect Jay Inslee’s win over Republican candidate Rob McKenna. Read more

  An Arizona woman got so angry that President Obama won another term that she ran down her husband, who neglected to vote. Either she really took to heart the old saying that “Every Vote Counts” but skipped the class in Civics that explained the Electoral College, or she was just close to the edge and this tipped her over it. Read more

OLYMPIA — President Obama gave a thumbs up to Referendum 74, the ballot measure in Washington that would legalize same-sex marriage, supporters said today. Not a huge surprise, considering Obama came out in support of same-sex marriage earlier this year, a few months after the Legislature passed the law behind Ref. 74 and Gov. Chris Gregoire signed it. … Read more

Both candidates appeared at the Al Smith dinner, and practiced their comic delivery. Mitt Romney went first:   Followed by Barack Obama: Read more

If you missed Wednesday's presidential debate (and let's face it, some of us had other things to do last night) you can get enough of it to join in today's water cooler and coffee break discussions with a video from BuzzFeed. Sorry, but the embed coding has problems, and won't load for all browsers. It seems tobe working fine on the BuzzFeed site, however, If you don't see it below, it can be found here.  . … Read more

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was more passionate in Wednesday night’s debate than some Republicans expected. President Barack Obama was more reserved than some Democrats expected. Neither produced a signature phrase or zinger that will make the first presidential debate of the 2012 campaign memorable, members of both parties said. Read more

The pre-debate debate continues: President Obama on Letterman last night talked about Mitt Romney's “47 percent” comments.   Romney, in a guest column in USA Today, criticized Obama's policies as creating dependency. Read the column here. Not sure what all this is about? See the original post here. Read more

In case you're wondering what exactly GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney said at a fundraiser in May about Barack Obama's supporters, here is the video clip, courtesy of Mother Jones:   Here is his explanation Monday night of how he could've used better words in his “off the cuff remarks”, but sticks by the message.   Feel free to weigh in, in the comments section. Read more

Democrat Jay Inslee's gubernatorial campaign is all aglow today with President Barack Obama's endorsement of their guy. Wait a minute. Hasn't Obama been a fan of Inslee's all along. Didn't he wish him well last spring in marking Inslee's departure from Congress to campaign full-time? Didn't he say nice things about Inslee during his May stop at the Paramount Theater in Seattle?  Yes, but - “He's been supportive but hasn't officially endorsed,” Inslee campaign spokeswoman Jaime Smith said. … Read more

Loyal Washington Democrats who didn't get to go to Charlotte for their National Convention, but are dying to watch President Obama accept the nomination and make a speech Thursday, are planning parties around the state to make it a shared experience anyway. Some will have special guests, like Gov. Chris Gregoire, who will be ata Seattle pizza parlor with U.S. … Read more