Ron Sims

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."

Secretary of State Sam Reed: Politicker photoSecretary of State Sam Reed issued a press release yesterday in advance of a statewide tour to promote the August 19 "top two" primary in which he predicted that voter turnout for the inaugural primary would hit 46 percent, making it one of the highest in state history.

 "We're expecting a good, strong turnout across Washington," Reed says. "Our voters are intrigued by our new Top 2 system of voting, which once again allows them to pick their favorite candidate for each office, without regard to party. This should be very popular  - it's the Washington tradition to `vote for the person, not the party.'  Even though there are not a lot of hotly contested primaries, we believe the level of interest is very high in this presidential and gubernatorial election year and that we will get a good turnout."

Still, voter turnout in the primary has not greatly fluctuated over the past four decades, with each election's voter turnout percentage falling somewhere in the 40s. It topped out in 1972 with 49 percent, and reached 45 percent in 2004 and 1992.

Long-serving King County Executive Ron Sims (D-Seattle) may face a challenge from within his own party in next year's race for the urban county's highest seat. The Seattle Times' David Postman reports that King County Councilman Larry Phillips (D-Seattle) has started an official exploratory committee to raise money and consider his chances for King County Executive.

"Running for County Executive is a big undertaking and one I do not take lightly," Phillips told supporters in an e-mail obtained by the Times. "I have a deep respect for the incumbent, as he's done many good things in King County, and I realize that it's hard to move on. But 13 years in office - with an unprecedented fourth term on the horizon - is a long time."

John LadenburgAt his official campaign kickoff last Monday, Democratic candidate for Attorney General John Ladenburg began his speech by talking about opening his first office as a trial lawyer in South Tacoma. He mentioned how he worked with tribes and blue collar folks from the neighborhood and boasted that he was one of the first lawyers around to work on behalf of battered women. 

Ladenburg still lives in blue collar South Tacoma, the neighborhood where he grew up. He even gets his haircut at the same barber shop on 56th and South Tacoma Way that he has been going to for thirty-odd years. It's just one of the ways that he keeps up with the local issues, and the gossip around town.

"I represented people in the neighborhood," he said.

Washington's superdelegate count stands at five for Obama, five for Clinton and seven undecided. State Republican deciders may know something the Democrats don't know, since they've been campaigning against Obama, without a single mention on Clinton in recent letters. The Republican decidee is coming to town, and you can meet him for dinner for only $33,100.