December 11, 2024
The Daily Astorian endorses in the Senate race for Democrat Jeff Merkley, over Republican incumbent Gordon Smith.
Compellingly argued, with an unusual historical background - with a good grounding in recent Oregon political history. Worth a read for reasons beyond the usual.
The Washington gubernatorial endorsements - where the papers have the same two choices as for years ago - will be interesting to watch. Such as the Tacoma News Tribune's, which comes out in tomorrow's paper. The paper is going for Democratic incumbent Chris Gregoire, a reversal from 2004 when it supported Republican Dino Rossi.
First came the point that "We liked Rossi in 2004 (and still do) for several reasons. One was the fact that he would have been the state’s first Republican governor in the 20 years since John Spellman left the office. There is real value in shifting party control of a state’s administration from time to time. State agencies develop cultures that, over time, can settle into complacency, stagnation and unexamined assumptions about how to spend public money. These tendencies can perpetuate themselves without occasional shake-ups. The election of a Republican governor would have shaken state government up royally."
But as to Gregoire: "Although we’ve had disagreements with her, we’ve been impressed by her overall performance as governor."