All three Northwest state legislatures - in Washington, Oregon and Idaho - get underway tomorrow. Very shortly thereafter, governors of the three states will throw the last of their cards on the table with their state of state addresses.
And then the assessments can begin.
Up to now, there's been basis for nothing more than speculation or proposing - "they ought to do this." Some of it has taken on a tone of praise or opprobrium, but there's really been no call for any of it. Yet.
Attitudes toward expectations are strikingly different in the three states.
In Idaho, where there have been a few changes but where slightly more doctrinaire Republicans are taking over from slightly more pragmatic Republicans - emphasis on the slightly - the overall take seems to be: Don't expect a lot of anything new. New Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter has made a career in politics as a limited-government guy, and the overall word seems to be: Don't expect anything ambitious, or any big surprises, either. Certainly none were foreshadowed in Otter's inaugural speech, which reads as correct, pleasing and proper but largely content-free.
Oregon is quite different.