My apologies if this has been diaried elsewhere on dKos, but I had not seen a comprehensive story on this issue in some time, and especially not since some very good news came down this week.  Please recommend this story so that more people become aware of it.

Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) endorsed Barack Obama today.

Larsen, a four-term Democrat who represents Everett, Bellingham and other areas north of Seattle, said Obama was "the best candidate to turn our best hopes for a better future into reality."

Seattle-PI: Rick Larsen Endorses Barack Obama For President

Just got the following email dump from the Snohomish County Democrats. Thought I would pass it along

Everett, WA – Today U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02), who will serve as a super delegate to the Democratic National Convention, endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States of America. Larsen released the following statement:

"Today I am endorsing Senator Barack Obama for President.  I believe Senator Obama is the best candidate to turn our country’s hopes for a better future into reality.

Full quote below fold

I'm spending most of my free time organizing the upcoming NW Progressive Convention (slated for Tacoma, WA on Nov. 10). I think with all the issues going on in Congress from Iraq, to Iran, health care (or lack thereof for millions of Americans), loss of civil liberties, poor trade agreements and on and on and on, that it would be appropriate to hear from our congressional representatives. Not just another rah-rah session that Bush is bad and the Dems are good, but some quality Q&A (tough questions, bullshit free answers). So then I thought, who'd be there, who should be there, and then who can we count on.

Democratic Congressman Rick Larsen (WA-02) had a public meeting on the rural island where I live Sunday. Since he was first elected in 2000, he's never known anything but being crushed under the heel of the DeLay Mafia, and it was nice to see a new spring in his step; at times he seemed almost giddy with the prospect of actually being part of the majority. He kept saying "We've been in power for 23 days" when people pressed for action on an issue.

I think Larsen is an honest, hard-working guy. A bit too cautious for my taste, but probably the ideal Democrat for his district. He won re-election in November by 64%-36%, in a district that still has a sizable contingent of gun-totin' rednecks, farmers, loggers, fundies, and assorted other natural Republicans.

Predictably, much of Sunday's discussion was about Iraq (Larsen favors partial withdrawal and focusing on fighting terrorists, not babysitting a civil war), but the subject of impeachment came up too…

In October of 2002 Congress voted for H.J. Resolution 114 to give President Bush authority to take military action against Iraq.  Out of curiosity, I decided to revisit that vote to see what it might show us about the Democratic and Republican Party views on the war at that time.

The Senate voted 77 to 23 in favor of the Resolution, while the House voted 296 to 133 in favor, with 3 abstentions.  Breaking down the vote by party is where it becomes interesting.