Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg will decide in two to four weeks whether to run for state attorney general.

Ladenburg met Monday with state Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz and other party leaders to discuss the attorney general’s race, according to Ron Klein, the county’s communications director. Klein said he spoke as "a friend of John’s who happens to know what’s going on," not as a county employee.

Klein said Ladenburg and the party leaders decided to form an exploratory committee and to examine funding possibilities and may conduct a survey. He said the group will "make up

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Here are the names and the order in which they will appear on our state ballot:

Democrats: Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson.

Republicans: Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Alan Keyes, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson.



Secretary of State Sam Reed certified the final list for Washington’s presidential primary election on Friday, the last day for candidates to withdraw from the race.

Ballots for the Feb. 19 election will be mailed to military and overseas citizens no later

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Former state Rep. Toby Nixon, an East King County Republican, sent out this news release minutes ago:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DECEMBER 27, 2007



Toby Nixon

(425) 823-9779

Cell: (206) 790-6377

toby@tobynixon.com

http://www.tobynixon.com



Toby Nixon announces he will not run for State Representative in 2008



Former 45th District State Representative Toby Nixon issued the following statement to his friends and supporters today:



"I appreciate the many inquiries and expressions of support I have received over the past few weeks from

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Chang Mook Sohn, the state’s official economist, will be the guest speaker at the 25th Legislative District Democrats’ “January Session Kickoff Dinner.”

Sohn is executive director of the Washington Economic and Revenue Forecast Council. He delivers the revenue forecast that the Legislature uses to write the state budget. He was known as “Dr. Doom” during the 1980s, when he delivered generally conservative forecasts.

The dinner will be held Jan. 3 at the Puyallup Library. Hospitality and a silent auction begin at 6:30 p.m., and dinner starts at 7 p.m.


…

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When state Rep. Fred Jarrett announced last week he was going to switch parties next year and run for the state Senate as a Democrat, we weren’t sure exactly when the switch would take effect.

Jarrett cleared that up today: When he comes to Olympia for the session that starts Jan. 14, he’ll be sitting on the Democrats’ side of the aisle. New seat. New caucus. New friends.

That will give Speaker Chopp, a Seattle Democrat, a 63-35 majority heading into the fall election. His goal is to have a House

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Gov. Chris Gregoire is rearranging her staff as she goes into the final year of her first term in office and gets ready for a reelection campaign.

Pearse Edwards not only will be her communications director, but also will oversee external relations. That second job puts Edwards in charge what sometimes is called “constituent relations.” Those are the people you get when you say you want to talk to the governor about something.

With one guy in charge of talking to reporters and talking to constituents, the message is more likely to be consistent.

Here’s the rest

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The race for president starts earlier than ever when Iowans caucus on Jan. 3. Days later, on Jan. 8, New Hampshire holds the nation’s first primary.

We’ve collected profiles of the top contenders. We’re publishing one a day in the print edition, but online readers don’t have to wait. We’ve put them all here.

And there is a method to our madness. The profiles will be published alphabetically and alternating by party. Here’s the list:

Dec. 19: Rudy Giuliani

Dec. 20: Joe Biden

Dec. 21: Mike Huckabee

Dec. 22: Hillary Rodham Clinton
…

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This came in from our DC correspondent, Les Blumenthal:

Though the scenario seems a little far-fetched, the Capitol Hill newspaper Politico reported today Sen. Patty Murray may be named "acting chairman" of the Senate Appropriations Committee replacing an aging West Virginia Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd.

Byrd would become "chairman emeritus" of the committee which controls close to $1 trillion in spending annually.

Murray, not surprisingly, denies the report.

"There is absolutely nothing to it," Murray, D-Wash., said in an interview. "I am doing my job on leadership and the appropriations team and that is

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