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

OLYMPIA – To hear supporters tell it, a new power-sharing coalition in the state Senate could usher in a Legislative session of compromise and moderation, with a positive response to Rodney King’s famous question: Can’t we all just get along? Forgive a professional skeptic, but it’s more likely to be best described by the title of a famous 1934 speech by Huey Long: Every man a king. Read more

OLYMPIA – Even without the final spending tallied, this year’s Washington governor’s race was the most expensive in state history, and outside independent groups spent record amounts trying to persuade residents to vote against Jay Inslee or Rob McKenna. Post-election reports filed this week with the state Public Disclosure Commission show the Inslee and McKenna campaigns spent a combined $25.7 million to be Washington’s next governor. Including other candidates that were eliminated in the primary and money spent by incumbent Chris Gregoire before she opted out of the race, spending hit nearly $26.2 million, passing the record set in 2008 by nearly $1 million. Read more

At 1 minute to 5 p.m. today Boise time, the Idaho Secretary of State’s office reported that Rep. Shannon McMillan, R-Silverton, had filed her campaign finance report; up to that point, she was the only incumbent lawmaker who hadn’t filed. The deadline was Dec. 6. By getting the report in now, she avoids possible $50-a-day fines. In other news from North Idaho lawmakers’ and candidates’ latest finance reports, the candidate who ended the election cycle with the biggest campaign debt in North Idaho is new Rep. … Read more

OLYMPIA — Even without the final spending tallied, this year's governor's race was the most expensive in state history and outside independent groups spent a record amounts trying to convince residents to vote against Jay Inslee and Rob McKenna. Post-election reports filed this week with the state Public Disclosure Commission show the Inslee and McKenna campaigns spent a combined $25.7 million in the race to be Washingon's next governor. … Read more

Second-term Rep. Shannon McMillan, R-Silverton, hasn’t filed the required post-election campaign finance report, the only North Idaho legislative incumbent or candidate to miss the filing deadline. The reports were due the 6thof December – today’s the 12th. Candidates can meet the deadline by having that postmark, so the Secretary of State’s office is just gearing up now to go after those who haven’t filed; notices will go out tomorrow. … Read more

The federal government should back off enforcement of federal marijuana laws in stateslike Washington that have legalized the drug, a solid majority of people told a recent Gallup poll. Nearly two-third — 64 percent of all adults surveyed in late November — told pollsters they do not believe the federal government should enforce its laws if they conflict with state law.  In the same survey, respondents were almost evenly split — 50 percent for, 48 percent against — on whether they thought marijuana should be legal. … Read more

BOISE – Idaho is “probably not” meeting the state constitution’s requirements to provide for education, Gov. Butch Otter told a crowd of more than 400 people last week. The implications of that are serious: The state currently is being sued over the issue. Read more

One of the most predictably conservative parts of Spokane County might be Precinct 6500 on the West Plains. You may know its more familiar name, Fairchild Air Force Base, but when Spokane elections officials tally up the ballots, they divide the county into variously shaped polygons with four-digit numbers, and 6500 is the base, which is the home to Air Force families as well as air refueling tankers. Read more

Spokane County officials issued 23 marriage licenses to same-sex couples Thursday on the first day that became legal in Washington state. That was, not surprisingly, the most of any Eastern Washington county, but fairly low compared to the urban counties along the Puget Sound. King County, which opened at 12:01 a.m. and planned to keep open until 8 p.m.,had  issued 456 licenses as of 4:30 p.m., but it wasn't breaking them out by same-sex or opposite sex applications. Thurston County, which also opened at 12:01 a.m. … Read more

BOISE – Three-term Idaho House Speaker Lawerence Denney, arguably the most powerful member of the Idaho Legislature, lost his leadership post Wednesday night to rival Rep. Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, in a dramatic political upset. The ouster, which happened during closed-door legislative caucus elections, marked the first time in three decades that a top Idaho legislative leader has been deposed by his own party. It came as top Idaho Senate leaders held off challenges, keeping their leadership team in place. Read more

OLYMPIA – Washington took the last step Wednesday in changing its laws to allow same-sex couples to marry. With about two dozen supporters looking on, Gov. Chris Gregoire and Secretary of State Sam Reed signed documents certifying that Referendum 74 passed in the Nov. 6 election.  Read more

Three-term Idaho House Speaker Lawerence Denney, arguably the most powerful member of the Idaho Legislature, lost his leadership post tonight to rival Rep. Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, in a dramatic political upset. Read more

Gov. Gregoire signs election results with Secretary of State Reed. OLYMPIA — Washington state took the last step Wednesday in changing its laws to allow same-sex couples to marry. With about two dozen supporters looking on, Gov. Chris Gregoire and Secretary of State Sam Reed signed documents certifying  vote results certifying that Referendum 74 passedin the Nov. … Read more

Supporters of same-sex marriage in Washington state apparently have something to hold over those other states that approved a similar law change at the ballot box last month. Not only did Washington have a bigger margin of victory than Maine and Maryland, says Andy Grow of Washington United for Marriage, it also gets the jump on having the law take effect and couples saying “I do.” The Nov. … Read more

OLYMPIA — The turnout was down slightly in Washington state compared to the 2008 presidential election, but the number of ballots cast was up. That means the number of signatures needed for initiatives and referenda goes up next year. Huh? We explain inside the blog. Click here to read more, or to comment. Read more

A funny thing happened on the way to Spokane County supporting Initiative 502, which legalizes marijuana for private use by adults. Some precincts, particularly those in the city of Spokane, really liked it. And by that we mean by big margins. Other precincts, as the map shows, really did not. There's one precinct onthe map that's particularly interesting. … Read more

When the clock ticks past midnight tonight, Washington will have the most permissive law in the nation regarding marijuana, thanks to voters who approved Initiative 502. But the new law isn’t a blanket license for anyone to smoke marijuana anywhere, anytime. There are restrictions within the law, and some items that must still be settled, either by state agencies or the courts. Here are some answers to common questions about what changes in state marijuana laws Thursday. Read more