Free Republic

To refresh your memory: Washington State has 44 delegates, winner-take-most (majority takes all) proportional primary (20% threshold), with statewide and CD delegates. Closed primary (deadline to switch is next week; deadline for first-time voters is next month), but it’s all mail-in. …And, just think! Five months ago, I would have had to write another three or four sentences to explain all of that. Now I can just assume that most of you folks will be able to follow along. It’s an ill wind, huh? Anyway, it turns out that Ted Cruz has already done the work – before the deadline...

The former president was speaking on behalf of his wife, Hillary Clinton, at a campaign event.Bill Clinton slammed the "awful legacy of the last eight years" on Monday, which Republicans quickly claimed was an attack on President Barack Obama. However, the former president was really talking about Republican obstructionism. Clinton was speaking in Spokane, Washington on behalf of his wife, former secretary of state and Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton, calling her a "change-maker" who can "make democracy work the way the framers intended for it to work." He added: "Now, if you don't believe we can all grow together...

Another person has entered the race for the 43rd Legislative District House seat. And if voted in, that person hopes to make history. Danni Askini has announced her intention to run for the 43rd Legislative District -- an area that covers much of Seattle's popular neighborhoods, including downtown, First Hill, Capitol Hill, South Lake Union, Eastlake, Wallingford, and Ballard. She announced Tuesday her intention to run for the position that will be left vacant as current State Rep. Brady Walkinshaw moves on to run for the US House of Representatives. If Askini wins, it could place a unique voice in...

Tech entrepreneur Scott Banister has long been an ally to the liberty movement. The angel investor, IronPort founder, and PayPal board member donated $3 million to a Rand Paul supporting Super PAC, and has been a vocal supporter of the libertarian Republican. Now that Rand Paul is out of the presidential race, Banister has thrown his support behind Ted Cruz. Cruz is a self-described constitutional conservative who earned the endorsements of both Rand and Ron Paul in his 2012 Texas Senate race. Scott Banister Our best chance for a constitutional presidency is now @tedcruz. #LibertariansForCruz Cruz's relationship with the Pauls...

SALT LAKE CITY — Donald Trump continues to be the front-runner in the GOP presidential nomination race, but he's languishing in fourth place in a new poll of Utah voters. The new UtahPolicy.com poll by Dan Jones & Associates comes as former Utah governor and 2012 presidential candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. is suggesting Trump has a shot at winning the White House. "People really are hungry for change. They were last time, but it hadn't reached the 212-degree boiling point. This time it has," Huntsman told USA Today's weekly "Capital Download" video series. Huntsman said that's why he thinks Trump,...

SPOKANE, Wa. – Rand Paul was 2,487 miles away from the Beltway journalists who had written off his campaign, and he was loving it. A riverfront hotel ballroom had filled early, latecomers grabbing chairs from the hallway to add more rows. Seven hundred people stood for a prayer, then the Pledge of Allegiance, then the Star-Spangled Banner, then for two amen-filled endorsements from local legislators, then a video message from the senator’s wife Kelley — and then, finally, for Rand Paul. “Looks like the liberty movement is alive and well and packing itself into the room!” said Paul. He wore...

Saturday’s disruption of a speech by Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders belies a growing rift on the left between liberal leaders and communities of color that feel they are not represented.SATURDAY’S turn of events when two Black Lives Matter protesters thwarted a speech from presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was cringe-worthy. The progressive alternative for the Democratic nomination expected a warmer welcome in Seattle. The protesters used a coarse strategy that cut short what could have been a productive discussion with 15,000 people who turned out to hear the U.S. senator from Vermont. The protesters treated Sanders as an enemy instead...

It was a good week for disruptive innovation. Three protestors affiliated with Black Lives Matter shut down Bernie Sanders yet again, this time at a Seattle rally Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, Donald Trump escalated his disruptive impact on the Republican presidential field, with a post-debate remark implying that Fox reporter Megyn Kelly was menstruating when she asked him provocative questions, fittingly, about his coarse put-downs of women. The two forms of disruption invite comparison. BLM is disrupting the most progressive candidate in the Democratic field. Why? Because in the year since the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, the issue of...

SEATTLE (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke to a packed crowd Saturday night at the University of Washington campus about his commitment to criminal justice reform as well as addressing income equality. Sanders gave his talk to a cheering audience of about 12,000 inside a university pavilion a few hours after he was shoved aside by several Black Lives Matter activists who are calling for changes to the criminal justice system. Sanders eventually left the Saturday afternoon event at Westlake Park in Seattle without giving his speech....

In June, I was asked to be prepared to give a presentation on Ted Cruz for a meeting on July 7. As I went about my initial research into this man now running for the Republican nomination for president, I realized that there was a lot of information available. Much of it has to do with positions on the issues of our time while some being quite negative. In the end, it seemed like a better idea to try to predict how this man would behave if ever elected to be our president. To begin, young Cruz grew up under...

An unscientific straw poll conducted by the Cowlitz County Republicans at last week’s Go 4th Festival put Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul at the top of the list of GOP presidential candidates in the 2016 race. Rounding out the top three favorites for president were Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas who ranked second, and Ben Carson, a pediatric neurosurgeon and author, who place third. The least favorite among the 16 Republican presidential candidates? Donald Trump. “I thought he would be at one extreme or another. He would either be at the top or at the bottom,” party chair Arne...

One of Snohomish County’s most conservative Republican lawmakers has quietly begun a campaign to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene. State Rep. Elizabeth Scott of Monroe filed paperwork May 21 with the Federal Election Commission to become a candidate and start collecting contributions. Scott is in her second term in the Legislature and seemed assured of re-election next year if she chose to stay in Olympia. Now it appears she wants to serve in Congress, though she had made no formal campaign announcement as of Wednesday. Scott did not return phone calls.

After being stiff-armed by Democrats on a liquor-tax dispute, Costco execs have shifted their loyalties to Republicans in this year’s state Senate races.When it comes to politics, Costco Wholesale has a well-deserved reputation as a Democratic-leaning corporation. Company co-founders Jim Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman have hosted President Obama at fundraisers in their lakefront mansions. Costco executives have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates and causes over the past decade. But in the key battle for control of the state Senate this year, top Costco brass — miffed at Democrats over a liquor-fee dispute — have essentially switched...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)There are 65 prominent people who might run for president in 2016. The Democratic and Republican fields contrast sharply. Hillary Clinton is the clear front-runner, while there is no front-runner on the Republican side. Twenty-three Democrats have been mentioned as a candidate or are eyeing a bid, according to an analysis by The Hill. The GOP side has 42. Most of the people on this list won’t run, and some have adamantly claimed that they’re not interested. But many politicians have changed their minds on seeking the White House. Before mounting his 2008 bid, then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he...

Last week, a top GOP House candidate in Washington state compared gay marriage to polygamy. "Marriage is something more for religion to decide," Republican front-runner Pedro Celis said Thursday when asked about his stance on same-sex marriage at a GOP candidate forum, the Seattle Times reported. "Is this marriage or not? Polygamy—is it fine or not? It's a religion thing." The National Republican Congressional Committee has backed Celis, a former Microsoft engineer, to run against Democratic Rep. Suzan DelBene in Washington's first congressional district. DelBene is expected to hold onto her seat in November, but national Republicans are trying extra...

Republican John Koster, a candidate for Congress in the 1st District, received a $5,000 contribution from SarahPAC, the political organization headed by Sarah Palin. Koster is in a tight race with Democrat Suzan DelBene to represent the 1st District, a newly drawn swing district that runs from Redmond to the Canadian border. Palin endorsed Koster in 2010, when he ran against Democrat Rick Larsen. Koster’s far-right tea party ties have been a major talking point for the DelBene campaign, which has branded Koster “too extreme” for the 1st District. Koster’s campaign says DelBene is too liberal...

Senator Michael Baumgartner will suspend his campaign for US Senate for two days this week to travel to Georgia to advise an army battalion soon to deploy to Afghanistan. Baumgartner will lecture the 63rd Signals Battalion at Fort Gordon on counterinsurgency and the economy of Afghanistan. He will return to the campaign trail on Friday, June 8. “It’s a tremendous honor to be asked once again to help prepare our nation’s finest for the difficult challenges of fighting the war in Afghanistan,” Baumgartner said. Baumgartner, who holds a Masters degree in International Development from Harvard, served as an economics officer...

Who will be on the ballot against Sen. Maria Cantwell a year from now? Maybe Michael Baumgartner. Haven't heard of him? He's from Spokane. He's not quite 36, one of four new Republican state senators elected in 2010. He stands out for several things. One is his victory a year ago over the incumbent, Chris Marr, in the most expensive such race in state history. It was big news in Spokane. "People said, 'You've been away. Nobody knows you,' " Baumgartner recalls. He had been away, and Marr tagged him as a carpetbagger. Baumgartner grew up in Pullman. His father...

Continuing an early trend in Washington's 2012 governor's race, a new Elway poll finds Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna with a 9-point lead over Democratic Congressman Jay Inslee. The poll, conducted last week, found 45 percent of respondents would "definitely" or "probably" vote for McKenna, compared with 36 percent for Inslee. Pollster Stuart Elway notes one "ominous" sign for Inslee in the poll data: the proportion of voters with a negative impression of him (22 percent) is nearly equal to those with a positive impression (28 percent). By contrast, McKenna has a 3 to 1 ratio of positive to negative...

In November, Accuracy in Media released my report regarding a company known as CH2M Hill, an engineering firm that claimed nearly $2 billion in stimulus awards. Most of their work concentrated on one division - the CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) - which operated one of the world’s largest environmental cleanup projects—the Central Plateau on the Hanford Nuclear Site in Richland, Washington. New information shows that despite their claims, the Energy Department says the company actually received $1.38 billion from the stimulus, but had an additional $3.1 billion in annual budget appropriations. Furthermore, they are receiving $2 million in...