WTF? Biden went to Washington???

[livelongandprosper]

Why?

I thought Washington was safe blue.

Does anyone have info why they want to spend time and resources in WA of all places?

[AndyTiedye]

1. Raising Money?

Must be fundraising. He was in California too.

[Super62]

2. Because

The Democratic Governor Chris Gregoire is in a horserace with the slime ball repuke here. She appeared with Joe the Senator.

[ClayZ]

3. Christine Gregoire

Dino Rosi is standing a NASTY HATE FILLED DIRTY campaign against her again but with more $$$ behind him than last time. His rally was GREAT today in Tacoma and tonight there is a $$$$ fundraiser in Seattle (I think).

[fujiyama]

4. Relax

It was mostly to help Gregoire. She's struggling to get reelected.

Obama is up in the state by a comfortable margin.

[stevedeshazer]

16. Darcy Burner, too n/t

[cliffordu]

5. He just wanted to chill with some blue peeps.

YO!!!!

Tacoma in the house!!!!

[John Q. Citizen]

10. And the "aroma of Tacoma?" Is that still happening or has it been phased out?

Ever see Jerry Miller play guitar?

[cliffordu]

15. No - Howard Roberts lived up here at the end of his life, though....

when he died he was the most recorded guitarist in history....

And NO ONE knew his name.

Hint:

He was the guitar player on the soundtrack from the movie "Shaft"

[notalemming]

19. I have an old vinyl called "Howard is a dirty guitar player"

damn...I need to dig that one out of the boxes and put it on a CD. The guy was terrific.

[cliffordu]

21. I went to a workshop he did down in Eugene...he broke my head open in three

days. Completely changed the way I played. Boom.

I learned enough with him in that long weekend that I never stopped learning, never stopped growing.

[liberalmuse]

23. You KNOW when you hit Tacoma, because of the aroma.

Unfortunately, still there.

On edit: time for bed. way too many spelling errors.

[Captain Hilts]

6. Down ticket races. nt

[RoyGBiv]

7. Extending coattails ...

Yes, we've hit the point where they're extending coattails, which is a very cool thing.

[NWPatriot]

8. In some recent polls....

...Obama's lead hasn't been as solid as it was earlier in the year. They're probably just shoring up the lead a little.
Don't worry- King County will pull it through. You just watch!

[livelongandprosper]

9. What does this "not as solid as it was" mean?

No double digit lead anymore?

[liberalmuse]

22. More like a 2-4 point lead in some polls.

Seattle is dark blue, but the rest of the state has a lot of Republicans, and too many outright batshit crazy wingnuts for my liking.

[fujiyama]

31. That was well over a month ago

The two fairly recent polls by both Rasmussen and Survey USA have him up in the state by double digits.

[John Q. Citizen]

12. I expect Obama will do well all over the state.

[RoyGBiv]

17. Where'd you pull that from?

His lead in WA has been increasing at a regular pace. Latest have him up by +10 to +16.

As has been mentioned, it's about down-ticket races. This is the advantage of having a lead and the reason campaigns want landslides. They can work on down ticket races at the same time.

The Presidency is not the all-powerful office it is made out to be. We need a Democratic legislature, and we need Dem governors and state legislators.

That's what Biden is working on there.

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. Why Biden in Washington is a great thing: SPARE CAPACITY

The notion that Biden is Washington State to defend the state is preposterous at this point. It's solid blue, and hardly worth mentioning that Obama will collect the electoral votes. As many posters have said, this visit is an extension of coattails to the struggling governor. That said, consider how significant it is that Obama can free up Biden at this point for down ticket rescue missions. It's a pretty good sign.

[XOEnterprises]

13. Why shouldn't we get love, too?

Seriously, though, as someone (I think Biden or one of our own senators here) explained at the rally, Pierce county is a pivotal county in the state. It trends more conservative than King county (Seattle). While Eastern Washington is much, much more red than Pierce, and I quote, "If Gregoire wins Pierce, she wins the state." Like it or not, and I'm from Eastern Washington, but Western Washington swings things over to Democrats, and so, as the "swing county" in Washington, it needs a little love to make it trend blue.

[strategery blunder]

14. Christine Gregoire won against Ro$$i by only 133 votes

in 2004.

And now, Dino Ro$$i has about $8 million in out-of-state, special interest money for the re-match. The gubernatorial campaign here is full of slimeball attacks against Gregoire that put the Swift-boat Veterans for Truthiness to shame. She's getting accused of personally letting sex offenders walk the streets without registering, despite the fact that law enforcement agencies are nearly all endorsing her. :eyes:

That's just a sampling. It's a really, really negative campaign here, and Rossi has been sued by the Republican SoS for having developer friends illegally fundraise, IIRC. (It might've been the developers themselves that got sued.) Gregoire does need the help.

[norepubsin08]

18. Great Rally

It was one of those rare, crisp, beautiful fall days...walking the six blocks to the stadium among the autumnal colored leaves was a great backdrop to the friendly chats in line with other folks waiting to get in and then the main event...a well laid out speech by a great guy and wonderful candidate. Couldn't have been better for the 12,000 who came to hear it!

[liberalmuse]

20. Gov. Chris Gregoire has a tough race here.

And Darcy Burner is trying to get into Congress. And unfortunately, Washington is light fucking blue. I can't explain that one.

[FVZA_Colonel]

24. I'd say it's a little more then light blue, but Gregoire is still having a damn tough time.

She's only ahead by a point or so, and I can't imagine that asshole McKenna will follow through on anything against the BIAW.

[XOEnterprises]

26. East of the Cascades.

There are pockets of Spokane that are liberal, but the rest of it is as conservative as you can get. Seattle gets balanced out by the farmlands. Why farmers vote against their own best interests, I have no clue.

[kestrel91316]

25. Helping out other Dem candidates there? Fundraising?

[Beregond2]

27. Actually, Tacoma doesn't smell anything like it used to, since they closed down the smelter.

Years ago, I went to a Bette Midler concert in Seattle. One of her Sophie Tucker jokes went:

"Last night I said to my boyfriend Ernie; 'Ernie, kiss me where it smells.' So he drove me to Tacoma!"

[rch35]

28. he just wants to fuck with you nt

[SeattleGirl]

29. Well heck, don't we deserve a visit from the candidates?

And no, we are not safe blue.

More like pale blue.

Besides, we have a Governor's race that may be a repeat of the almost-too-close-to-call race we had in '04 (the same lying bastard Republican is running again against our Dem Gov), and we have a state Representative race that may, just may, flip from R to D.

So, I think a bit of help from the Obama campaign is a good thing here, and just may help the Dems a lot.

[suffragette]

30. Tight race for Governor. Dino Rossi is so slimy that he's putting GOP Party

instead of Republican on the ballot, hoping he can trick a few voters that way. He and the BIAW are running a massive smear campaign against Governor Gregoire. And it's again very close so each vote will make a difference.

Glad Biden could visit and help out Gregoire.

Encountered one good surprise last week. Went to a conference in Ellensburg last week and had lunch in a small restaurant there on Friday. At the next table, there were about eight woman, most of whom were probably in their mid sixties or so. They started to discuss the Presidential race and I braced myself since I was expecting to hear them supporting McCain. Instead, one said "You know, I am just worried that McCain will drag us into another war." The woman across from her said she liked Obama's health care plan better and another woman chimed in with distrust of Palin. It was truly heartening to hear their discussion.