Darcy Burner

MINNEAPOLIS - Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Auburn) has consistently shown up on lists of vulnerable Republican House incumbents in 2008, just two years removed from a close race in 2006 in a district that voted for John Kerry. Among those is the Pindell Report, which showed Reichert's rematch with Democrat Darcy Burner as the country's most competitive.

Still, he won the primary on August 19 by four percent and it was just revealed that the National Republican Congressional Committee was dedicating a million dollars toward advertising on behalf of his campaign. Both are signs that his race will be close, but that Reichert may have a slight edge. King County Republican Party Chair Lori Sotelo agrees.

The National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee announced Monday that it would be reserving television advertising time prior to November's election and among those receiving substantial support from the committee is 8th District Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Auburn ) according to RealClearPolitics.com.

The NRCC is set to spend $1 million on Reichert's behalf as he fends off a challenge from his 2006 opponent, Democrat Darcy Burner.

DENVER - Bill Clinton made his way into Washington state politics today. No, he didn't stop by to greet the delegation, instead he came up in a story told by Rep. Brian Baird (D-Vancouver) about the 1996 race that saw him fall frustratingly short against then-Rep. Linda Smith.

After the blanket primary showed Baird within four points of Smith when he had expected to be twenty points back, President Bill Clinton gave Baird a call and told him, "bear down. You think you have worked hard? Work harder." Baird heeded Clinton's advice and came within a thousand votes of unseating the popular incumbent.

He came back two years later, when Smith left her post to run for Senate, and won handily over state Sen. Don Benton (R-Vancouver). There are no doubt plenty of differences between that story and the current scenario in the 8th Congressional District where Darcy Burner is giving a second shot at taking on another two-term congressman, Rep. Dave Reichert. But there are also enough similarities to cause a double take.

DENVER -- Jay Inslee hit the ground running with a full head of steam.

"Boy is this a good time to be a Washington Democrat," U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee said when he took the stage at the Washington state delegation breakfast this morning. "I have never been so optimistic, I have never been so engaged, I have never been so motivated."

He pointed to George Bush's mishandling of Katrina, and Sen. John McCain refusing to vote on a deadlocked energy bill earlier this session as the reason for his fervor.

"I was so angry at George W. Bush during Katrina," Inslee said, "that I got on a plane and flew to the Astrodome. It is going to be Democrats who someday restore New Orleans, who restore education, who get universal health care. I believe that is what we are going to do. I believe that is our destiny."

Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Auburn): campaign photoRep. Dave Reichert's re-election campaign is plugging two recent endorsements from atypical sources. In the days since the "top two" primary of August 19, two of the four fallen candidates in the 8th Congressional District have endorsed the Auburn Republican over Democratic challenger Darcy Burner of Carnation.

Both Jim Vaughan and (Boleslaw) John Orlinski have announced their support for Reichert in the last week, citing what they believe is an overly partisan trend in politics these days. Vaughn ran as a Democrat in the primary, and Orlinski stated no party preference.

"I'm concerned about the direction of our country," Vaughn said in a release. "The problems I see in Congress right now are due to partisanship."

Now that the text messages are in, and the world officially knows that Barack Obama has selected Delaware Sen. Joe Biden for his running mate, the question remains, what does it mean here in Washington?

Reactions from Evergreen State Democrats have been positive so far, even if they acknowledge that the number two spot on the ticket pales in comparison to the party's main draw, Barack Obama.

U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Arlington) issued a press release this morning championing the selection of Biden, saying it was yet another example of good judgment from Obama, a trait the Illinois senator has made into a key component of his campaign.

Both sides were spinning fast in the hours after Tuesday evening’s primary in the hotly contended race for the 8th Congressional District seat.

“This is a significant defeat for Burner who made it clear that she needed to outpoll Reichert in the primary to keep her national fundraising base engaged and spent over half a million dollars in the loss,” the National Republican Congressional Committee wrote in a post-primary memo, referring to U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert’s 48 percent to 44 percent outpacing of businesswoman Darcy Burner.

“In fact, despite his turnout advantages, the incumbent has been held under 50 percent of the primary vote, and the combined Democratic vote is greater than the Republican vote,” Burner pollster Celinda Lake wrote in a memo of her own today. “This is sobering news for Reichert.”

Who’s right?

Politicker.com national political columnist Reid Wilson writes today about how some losers from the 2006 cycle are poised to winners this fall. That includes Democrat Darcy Burner, who is trying again to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert in the 8th Congressional District.

Writes Wilson: 

The former sheriff has a strong field operation, but the district voted Democratic for U.S. Senate in 2004 and 2006, and for Al Gore and John Kerry. An area that was once barren of Democratic state legislators now sends a majority of Democrats to Olympia, the state capital. Burner, who has made her opposition to the war in Iraq a central part of her campaign and who has outraised Reichert, stands as good a chance as any Democrat ever has of winning the seat.

Read Wilson's full column here. 

In 2006, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker John Gard and Washington State businesswoman Darcy Burner lost their races for Congress by about 7,000 votes each. This year, both candidates are back to run again, and political analysts put both near the top of the list of challengers most likely to knock off an incumbent.

Gard, a Republican, lost a previously Republican-held seat centered around Green Bay to Democrat Steve Kagen. After a series of missteps during his first two years in office, Kagen is seen as vulnerable, and a district that is likely to vote for John McCain could provide the GOP with one of their best pickup opportunities (A number of politically-savvy Republicans have told this columnist that Gard is the best candidate to have lost last year).

The state's two major party chairmen both painted a rosy picture of their respective factions' outlooks heading into the general election once all of the primary votes are counted.

Democrat Dwight Pelz felt particularly strong about the state's two most hotly contested reaces and Republican Luke Esser had high hopes for the slate of Republican statewide hopefuls.