Jim Camden

This year's election results confirm what politicians and political observers have suspected for years: Spokane County is shifting to solid Republican territory. From Deer Park to Spangle, from Liberty Lake to the West Plains, Republican candidates for national, state or local office had a clear edge in most precincts outside the city of Spokane.

Dino Rossi can claim the lead in the Washington governor's race for three straight days, at least. Rossi led by 3,492 ballots at the end of tabulating Wednesday, a slight increase in his margin over Democrat Christine Gregoire as of Tuesday evening.

The city of Spokane's street bond issue moved closer to passage Thursday as the county tabulated about 21,000 absentee ballots. Two other races tightened slightly, with Democrat Laurie Dolan inching closer to Republican Brad Benson for the 6th Legislative District Senate seat and Democrat Bill Burke gaining slightly on Republican Mark Richard for a Spokane County Commission position.

Tired of the campaign commercials that fill your television screen or the glossy brochures that flood your mailbox? Thank the people who give the candidates and political committees the money that helps pay those political expenses.

Congress isn't likely to agree before Election Day on ways to change the nation's defense against terrorism, but will likely reach a consensus in a lame-duck session afterward, former Sen. Slade Gorton, a member of the Sept. 11 commission, predicted Tuesday in Spokane. Although the House and Senate have proposals that started far apart on such things as the authority of a national intelligence director, negotiators for the two chambers have been moving closer together in the last week and seem to be competing to show "who can respond most promptly," Gorton said.

Looking for political items that are collectible or just fun? Start with the local campaign headquarters.

George Nethercutt and Patty Murray continued their months-long arguments over taxes, Iraq, Social Security reform and each other's campaign ads Wednesday in the second and last televised debate of Washington's U.S. Senate campaign. Over the course of one hour, they agreed on only two things: Both think Boeing should be awarded a contract to build the Air Force's next line of air refueling tankers, even though the giant aircraft manufacturer is guilty of some ethical lapses over the deal.

The ad: "Complete," a 30-second television commercial from George Nethercutt's Senate campaign, features the candidate's daughter Meredith defending his record on diabetes and stem cell research, and calls Democrat Patty Murray's ads that criticize him for various congressional votes "a complete lie." The 24-year-old Meredith, who suffers from juvenile diabetes, looks into the camera and asks if that lie "makes you wonder about all her other charges? Murray is trying to buy this election with money and distortions. My dad tells the truth." Murray's stanceCampaign spokeswoman Alex Glass says the Murray ads are accurate, citing votes Nethercutt has made back to 1996. On various bills and amendments to bills, Nethercutt has supported bans on embryonic research, which some researchers believe would yield cures or treatments for diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other diseases. Last year, he opposed a partial lifting of the ban on human cloning that would have allowed cloning of embryos under Food and Drug Administration guidelines, for medical research purposes. To oppose embryonic stem cell research puts him with "right wing extremists," Glass said.Nethercutt's stanceIn a press conference Tuesday, Nethercutt insisted that he supports stem cell research, although he opposes human cloning "along with most Americans." He has supported increased federal funding for stem cell research, as well as other research for diabetes and other chronic diseases, and authored a bill for another type of treatment, pancreatic islet cell transplants, which recently passed in the House. He also noted that he formed and is chairman of the congressional Diabetes Caucus, with members of both parties interested in that disease, and has received awards from groups searching for a cure for the disease. He called on Murray to "retract" her ads and admit she is wrong as any "self-respecting senator" would.The bottom line Clearly, diabetes research is an issue on which Nethercutt has been a passionate advocate, long before he was elected to Congress in 1994. The questioning of his commitment to that and research on other diseases has been angering him for several weeks, but an attack ad being mailed out by the state Democratic Party seems to have been the last straw. It features pictures of Ronald Reagan, Muhammad Ali and Michael J. Fox, to suggest they're on the right side of the issue and Nethercutt's on the wrong side. They're sympathetic figures, but Nethercutt's daughter effectively trumps them by calling Murray a liar.The issue of stem cell research is not as simple as Murray's ads, the state Democratic Party's mailer, or even the Nethercutt commercial, suggest. There are other types of stem cells that can be harvested, studied and developed – from infants and adults – and Nethercutt does not oppose that work. Different groups argue about the value of research with embryonic stem cells from in vitro fertilization – and even whether that constitutes the type of human cloning that many would find objectionable.Nethercutt insists that a 1996 vote, which Murray's campaign regularly cites, wasn't even about stem cell research because that line of research wasn't well developed or understood that long ago. But Murray's campaign quickly supplied pages from the Congressional Record that showed a supporter of the amendment specifically referred to embryonic stem cells as showing promise for treatment of diseases (although diabetes was not among the ones mentioned).Murray isn't likely to pull her ad or retract any of her statements – Glass said the campaign hasn't even received that request, except through reporters – but the two candidates will likely spar over the issue in an upcoming debate.Ad watch is an analysis of campaign advertising during election season. If you have questions about Ad watch, contact Shawn Vestal at (509) 459-5431 or shawnv@spokesman.com.For more information on the election and to see selected campaign advertisements, visit the online election guide at: www.spokesmanreview.com/elections

President Bush and Sen. John Kerry evaded some questions, made some claims they never backed up and switched subjects when it suited them, a panel of experts told a crowd gathered in an Eastern Washington University auditorium to watch the final debate. But overall, the Republican incumbent and his Democratic challenger had "a great clash," generally sticking to issues, said Jeanne Ratliffe, a communications professor.

Attorneys for the city of Spokane, River Park Square and others involved in a massive federal lawsuit over the mall's garage held talks Thursday that could head off a trial in January. The mediation session, proposed by the city, brought attorneys and some city officials to the federal court offices on the second floor of the downtown Post Office building for meetings with a pair of mediators.