Washington is bright blue in the presidential races but we tend to split things up a lot in state campaigns. We have a history of close races. When the recount dust had finally settled in 2004 current governor Christine Gregoire beat sleaze ball Dino Rossi by a whopping 129 votes. There is a very complete historical post on Wikipedia that makes for interesting reading. Keep that in mind when you are talking with anyone who thinks they can't make a difference. Out of 2.6 million votes cast it came down to 129 people to save the governorship for a democrat. Wikipedia Like 2004 this years contest promises to be an all hands on deck nail biting election.
Our current Attorney General will be no push over and unfortunately he's much too smart to come off as what he really is, a Scott Walker clone. Fortunately we have an excellent candidate in Rep. Jay Inslee but believe me, he's going to need every democrat to stand up and be counted.
Jay is a social progressive, he's for equal rights and medical care for everyone but he isn't falling into the GOP trap of just reacting their wacko war against gays and women. What people are most concerned with is the economy and most specifically jobs, jobs and more jobs. His campaign motto is "Building a Working Washington"
Speaking at the Washington Aerospace Training & Research Center (WATR) he said:
“We have a huge challenge,” Inslee said. “How are we going to keep the Washington spirit of innovation alive? To do this, we have to have the skilled people.
“We now need a whole new generation of aerospace workers. The Boomers are starting to retire.”
Addressing about 40 students at the WATR, he said, “We need to increase slots at centers like this, at community colleges and four-year universities, too. We have to have the full spectrum.”
Last year, he said, Washington state industry needed about 5,200 graduates in the sciences to fill open slots, but only about 2,000 graduated from Washington’s colleges.
Jason Redrup representative of the Machinist Union added:
Jason Redrup, business representative for District 751 of the Machinists Union, said Inslee’s proposals to help create a skilled workforce would be key in drawing more aerospace companies to Washington.
“We’re about the race to the top,” Redrup said. “We’ve got the most highly skilled workers.”
He said other states try luring industry with tax breaks and other enticements, “but we can offer the most highly skilled workforce in the world.”
Read today's article in
Small Town Papers.
As the GOP melts down Inslee's numbers are increasing but it's a long way to November and we have yet to taste the effect of millions of dollars of out of state PAC money that will saturate the media. What can you do now?
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