Evergreen state politics

Lots of political news in the paper today in our Washington. So much for a boring summer in an off-year.

Dino Rossi has told the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee that he won't be Washington's Republican candidate to unseat incumbent Sen. Maria Cantwell next year. In a letter to Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, the committee's chair, Rossi said that he intends to work to improve Washington state from home and that if he won it would be difficult to move his family, which includes four children 4 to 14.

State party chair Chris Vance apparently declined to handicap the field. Perhaps that is because there have been numerous reports that Vance is eyeing the seat himself. Meanwhile, Cantwell continues to raise more money, and every court decision this week against Enron helps Cantwell because she picked up on the case from the Snohomish County PUD. Enron had been accused of creating circumstances where electricity would be in short supply so that the available megawatts could be sold for higher prices.

I would not close the door entirely on the Rossi for Senate idea. One never knows how convincing the back-room dealings can be, and Air Force One makes a big sound when it screams into the area for a rally. Cantwell may have some good friends, but she doesn't have that.

A federal district court judge declared Washington's new primary system, approved just last year by citizens as Initiative 872, unconstitutional. That means voters will again have to declare a party preference, at least for voting purposes. This is actually a victory for the First Amendment in that political parties clearly have the right to freedom of assembly -- association with other like-minded people -- and that the parties cannot be forced to have nonmembers determine the candidates being nominated in a primary election. Washington voters had for a long time the ability to cross party lines when voting in a primary, and as someone who usually votes a straight "D" ticket, it doesn't bother me in the least to be forced to declare affiliation for primary elections.

In a national new item, a federal appeals court has ruled constitutional the Bush Administration's plan to create a special military tribunal to try the terrorism suspects currently held captive at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. It would be the first time since World War II that such a tribunal has been held. This is a victory not only for the administration but particularly for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, whose legal opinion as White House Counsel helped shape the plan. If Gonzales is Bush;s nominee for the Supreme Court, expect this to be an even bigger issue now.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.