Yep. Gregoire was at best ineffective, at worst actively harmful to progressive issues. But she was always a better choice that *the other guy*.

What the hell, I know I'm setting myself up for disappointment, but I'll take Inslee at his word. Time for a progressive governor.

Inslee is correct, as Matt @1 points out.

DINO.

My bad.

Um, yea, off to a great start Jay. Unless you can get a Washington State income tax off the ground, you'll be in the exact same boat she was. Good luck, you'll need a whole lot of it.

I'll take a DINO any day over a Rossi.

I never trust a former prosecutor for public office, especially one who claims to be a Democrat.

Oh, shit. Inslee was a city prosecutor right out of law school in 1976.

They're friggin' everywhere.

Gregoire won election in 2004 by 129 votes. Just seven counties, all in the West, voted for Gregoire

One way she could have interpreted the results is that the voters liked Dino Rossi's platform so much that they almost elected him instead. The margin of victory was so small, it would be rational to conclude that, had a random event such as a weather pattern occurred slightly differently, Rossi would have won and not Christine Gregoire.

So she set out on a conservative path. When she faced the same opponent four years later, she won much more handily. This must have felt like an affirmation by the voters that she had indeed chosen the right course. Such an affirmation would also be a prescription for more of the same.

So of course she governed in a very conservative manner.

Good for Dwight Pelz. It's about time a political insider type displayed a little humor about this BS. @1 & 3 are right: Gregoire screwed a lot of folks (see current issues w/ education for starters), but without an income tax, and especially if the 2/3 rule finds its way back in, there's no hope for improvement.

BTW: Always voting Democrat because "they're better than the other guy" leaves us with Democratic governors that don't do shit for us progressives, because they know we'll support 'em no matter what. Of course, I'm being hypocritical: "He's better than the other guy" was the #1, 2, & 3 reasons I voted for Inslee.

I don't recall a time I was less excited about someone I've voted for. There a couple of major reasons he was better than the other guy. For me the most important reason is that he is not willing to bypass the expansion of medicare. However the stupid "majority caucus" might make that bonehead move.

In any case I think he'll talk about clean energy but be silent on the coal ports issue.

Countdown to the day that Papa Jay sticks us with an income tax...

Oh for petes sake, Bailo, read the news, will you. Like the news of way way back re the fact that we have a 2/3rds majority rule in this state which forbids tax raises, and the news of way way WAY back re the fact that a Governor can't vote anything into law. There's something called the Legislature. It makes laws.