Democrats have been frustrated by Republican candidate Dino Rossi, who has been effective in concealing his conservative agenda. Enter relentless state party communications director Kirstin Brost, who for the last three weeks, has been publishing a web journal "The Daily Dino"--a barrage of hard-hitting, though often amusing, blasts that highlight Rossi's contradictions, obfuscations, and exaggerations.

The October 7 edition, for instance, juxtaposed a Rossi quote in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about "broad support" from liberals with Rossi's "Dinocrats" webpage, which contains just two names: an Olympia bagel-store owner named Marc Feigen and small-business owner named Jamie Beletz.

Brost's complete and uncensored Daily Dino archive is available at www.rossirecord.com. SANDEEP KAUSHIK

Burn Out

The city may snuff out a classic pastime: roasting s'mores at Alki's and Golden Gardens' beach fire pits. Seattle Parks and Recreation--following a 2002 Puget Sound Clean Air Agency citation--did a study and determined that the popular fires aren't great for the environment. Plus, beach bums have been known to burn old couches and other strange debris, which leaves a mess. The Parks' board of commissioners will make a recommendation to Parks Superintendent Ken Bounds after an October 14 public hearing. AMY JENNIGES

Wild Night

In the early hours of October 10, Seattle police encountered a "large fight disturbance" in the parking lot north of Qwest Field. An unidentified man in his 30s fired a gun at a fleeing car and then turned toward police, who shot and killed him.

That incident, while the most serious of the evening, was just one of several late-night brawls around town. According to police records: Officers responded to Club Caesar on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, after the owner reported a fight involving up to 40 people; at closing time on Capitol Hill, police found "over 100 people in the street" outside the Baltic Room, and police broke up a near-fistfight. Finally, at 3:30 a.m. at Belltown's Downunder nightclub, a bouncer was pushed through a window by one of several men who were "disruptive and attempting to start fights." AMY JENNIGES

Ad Man

Washington State Democrats pounced last week. Their target: Dino Rossi's political consultant, Texas-based ad-meister Scott Howell. Howell, infamous for sliming Georgia Senator Max Cleland in a successful 2002 attack ad, is currently coming under fire for a "race-baiting" ad against Oklahoma's Democratic Senate candidate, Representative Brad Carson. The ad, which shows images of Hispanics and dark hands getting welfare checks, says Carson voted to allow immigrants to "take our jobs" and get welfare.

Paul Berendt, chair of the Washington State Democrats, called on Rossi to fire hatchet man Howell. JOSH FEIT