Democrats won’t quail over vice president’s visit

Local Democrats are promising something special when Vice President Dick Cheney comes to Spokane next Monday. It surely won’t involve flowers and a big “Welcome to the Lilac City” banner, but they haven’t worked out anything definite yet.

The veep is coming to the Davenport Hotel to help raise money for Senate candidate Mike McGavick and the state GOP’s campaign fund, with a $500 per person “gala” reception and a $2,100 per person private reception and photo opportunity.

Spokane Democrats were told Saturday the party’s coordinated campaign operations – the folks that work for the entire ticket – will be up and running before April 17, so they could expect to be hearing about something in the coming days.

A separate demonstration by the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane might also be in the works, said Spokane County Democratic Chairwoman Sharon Smith.

Whatever is planned, don’t be surprised if the dress code calls for hunter orange vests.

Back in style

After years of being closed, the reopened Davenport appears to have returned quickly and easily into its former role as the prime location for political gatherings, and not just for the Cheney event. Democrat Chris Marr and Republican Cathy McMorris both used the ballroom – a couple days apart – last month for big campaign kickoffs, and other candidates have been using it for fundraisers and press conferences.

Over the decades, presidents, vice presidents – as well as folks who had a decent shot at those jobs – filled the Davenport lobby with cheering supporters. In 1984, both then-Vice President George Bush and Democratic candidate Geraldine Ferraro played to overflow crowds there.

As far as we can tell, that’s the last time a vice president held a campaign event in the Davenport. But if that’s wrong, we’d be happy to be corrected.

Everything new is old again?

The Democratic Leadership Council said last week it was naming Gov. Chris Gregoire its “New Democrat of the Week” on Wednesday.

This is undoubtedly a high honor, much coveted by those who follow the group’s goal of coming up with “innovative ideas that are modernizing progressive politics for the 21st Century.”

Gregoire’s just coming off a pretty good legislative session, in which she had some victories over some long-standing contentious issues like malpractice reform and water quality, so a little recognition might be in order.

But still, “New” Democrat of the Week? Gregoire has been a Democrat for quite some time. She was attorney general, with a “D” after her name, for 12 years before she was elected governor in 2004. And before that she worked in the cabinet of a Democratic governor.

That brings up the question: How old can one’s credentials as a Democrat be and still be new?

Saying thanks

As a result of the switch to all-mail voting, poll workers in Spokane County are an endangered species. A few of them will be tapped each election to be at “voting centers” where ballots can be dropped off, but the days when they had to staff more than 100 poll sites are gone.

But the county elections office wants them to go out with a bang and is holding an Election Worker Recognition Day at 10 a.m. Thursday at CenterPlace in the Valley.

They’ll get thanks from County Auditor Vicky Dalton, a speech from Secretary of State Sam Reed and snappy patter from master of ceremonies Richard Brown of KXLY-TV. Also on tap are some stories from “the good old days” from former county Auditor Bill Donahue.

What kind of stories? Well, there were a couple of times when a box of ballots did not make it from the polling station to the courthouse after the polls closed. In one case, a box of ballots wound up in Idaho, Donahue said.

Just think how that would have gone over in the 2004 governor’s race.