You can tell when Democrats are worried that they are potentially stuck with a loser because that’s when their consultants start leaking early polls showing how weak the candidate is with voters. Such is the case with the numbers blasted out by Northwest Progressive Institute, highlighting what political observers already knew – Attorney General Bob Ferguson is not that popular, even with Democrats.

Now, in our state’s case, that means a breathless release that “Dave Reichert has established a two percentage point lead over Democratic Attorney General Bob Ferguson in Washington State’s 2024 gubernatorial contest.” Of course, any poll showing the hyper-partisan AG losing is a good one, but this one also showed an interesting slice of data that could trouble Ferguson for the next year: “We can see that Republican voters are very united behind Dave Reichert, whereas Democratic voters are less committed to Bob Ferguson. A plurality of independent voters, meanwhile, favor Reichert.” You can have lots more fun by diving into the crosstabs of the poll, including “17% of Democrats” preferring Reichert, here… Northwest Progressive Institute.

Carmen Goers, a GOP candidate in the 8th Congressional District, joined us for this week’s Newsmaker Interview. Over the past 10 months, Goers has been actively engaging with grassroots activists in Chelan and Kittitas counties, as well as the Eastern portions of King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. In her Newsmaker Interview, Goers outlined her reasons for running, emphasizing strong support for Israel, advocating for tax and regulation cuts to address the impacts of “Bidenomics,” and calling for a renewed focus on core subjects like reading, writing, and arithmetic in the U.S. Department of Education. Read more.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson decided to grab some cheap publicity today by taking credit for the work of others, saluting the first case of a new retail theft task force.  Left unsaid by the AG in his haste to appear anti-crime after a career of making it easier for criminals to succeed, he left out the news that “Washington state ranks first in the nation for retail theft, according to a study released by Forbes.”

Indeed, KIRO news highlights how “not only is shoplifting up, but retailers are saying shoplifters are even more aggressive and violent than they were last year.” Of course, now that AG Ferguson has a task force up and running, you can see whether they can put any dent in the fact that “Larceny thefts in Washington are the second-highest per capita (in the country), with a 24% growth from 2019 to 2022” here… KIRO 7.

The homeless population which has made so much of Seattle its own is keeping one set of the downtown establishment away.  That’s the paying part, with the Seattle Times providing the data that “Seattle’s recovery from the pandemic, already shaky, took a step backward this month.”

The usual suspects are to blame for the ongoing malaise – “simply weren’t enough customers to turn a profit” one business said on its way out of town. You can read on to see why this is not likely to improve any time soon, as “the number of workers who’ve returned to the office has lagged at roughly half of 2019 levels” here… Seattle Times.

The long debate over the Lower Snake River Dams has surfaced more than its share of hypocrisy over the years, as Shift has highlighted, with much of it coming from hyper-green Leftists living far away from the dams in Puget Sound. The local media is now highlighting that perhaps folks should tend a little bit more to their own gardens, writing “it’s little surprise that a new scathing Government Accountability Office audit finds that Washington officials have failed to protect threatened salmon and steelhead populations closer to home — in the polluted Puget Sound.”

Members of Congress whose constituents depend on the dams for the economic survival identified the problem directly: “For the last decade, this (state) administration has been so distracted by misguided efforts to breach the lower Snake River dams that they completely ignored the salmon being poisoned in their own backyard.” Read on to see how likely it might be to develop “a comprehensive strategy that goes beyond the divisive debate over dams” here… Shift, Tri-City Herald.

Washington state Democrats sure do love to represent people in Congress without actually living by them, with both Pramila Jayapal and Marilyn Strickland recent examples of living in one place and running in another to secure your government paycheck. Now, as Shift has highlighted, Hilary Franz is trying to turn that trick by swooping into the Sixth congressional race being vacated by Derek Kilmer.

Unfortunately for former failing gubernatorial candidate Franz, KUOW found people who live in Kitsap County and out on the peninsula who might not want to be represented by a Seattle lefty like Franz. You can read on to find out who here… Shift, KUOW.

We know that times are tough for candidates trying to raise money, what with a new open 6^th congressional seat to go with the open races in 2024 for governor, attorney general, Lands Commissioner, and Insurance Commissioner (so far). However, few candidates have gone so low in their scrapping for funds as Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

You can read his latest plea, where poor him is having to slow his decade-long fundraising machine for a few days during the upcoming legislative session, calling out in italics “it doesn’t seem fair, does it?”. You can check out more tales of woe here… Bob Ferguson campaign email.

As he is still unwilling to tell the truth about rising gas prices, Jay Inslee’s dinner guests should brace themselves for his creative storytelling.

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