The one place they aren’t asking that question this morning is Alaska, where GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has already made a splash as a reform-minded governor. (Although Alaskans have to be as surprised as anybody that a first-term governor from a deep red state with three electoral votes was tapped.)

Check out the coverage on our Anchorage sister paper’s website for more background on the candidate. Here’s a deep profile of her, written in 2006 while she was mayor of Wasilla.

Here’s an excerpt:

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With a full slate of state races on the August primary ballot, and with the nation buzzing about the two national political conventions, you haven’t heard much of late about candidates for Pierce County offices.

That’s about to change. In coming weeks candidates for county executive, council, assessor-treasurer and sheriff will participate in a flurry of public forums.

Here’s a list of events I’ve been able to confirm. Some are conflicting, but organizers have asked candidates to send surrogates if they must. Unless otherwise noted, the events are free and open to the public. More forums are planned, and I’ll post them as I’m able to confirm details with sponsors.

Public forums for Pierce County candidates

Date: Sept. 3
Time: 6-8 p.m.
Host: City Club of Tacoma
Location: Wheelock Student Center Rotunda, University of Puget Sound, 1500 N. Warner St., Tacoma.
Who: County executive candidates.
More information: Reservations required, and the deadline is today. Call 253-272-9561, email at office@cityclubtacoma.org or online at www.cityclubtacoma.org

Date: Sept. 8
Time: 7-9 p.m.
Host: Parkland Community Association
Location: Central Pierce Fire Station 61, 100 S. 114th St., Parkland.
Who: County executive candidates.

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Tacoma City Councilwoman Marilyn Strickland knew it would be an historic occasion the moment she became a Democratic delegate.

And it was.

Strickland, moved by her experiences at the Democratic National Convention, said it was an honor to stand on the field at Invesco Field tonight and witness Barack Obama’s speech to a crowd of some 80,000.

“It was visually stunning. The speech was very powerful. It was honor to be here and see the person who I believe is going to be the next president of the United

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Dean Ando sent me a text message this afternoon confirming that he is among a select few (hundred) who will be seated in a circle surrounding Barack Obama during Obama’s speech tonight.

Ando, the Tacoma delegate who went to school with Obama in Hawaii, wasn’t certain if that was the reason that organizers upgraded his credential.

But it probably didn’t hurt.

Ando will be one of about 200 seated in a circle around Obama.

When I spoke with him this morning, the upgraded credential had not

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State Sen. Rosa Franklin, D-Tacoma, called last night’s selection of Barack Obama as the Democrat’s nominee for president “another step in really accomplishing what this country is all about – equality for everyone, regardless of color of skin.”

Important as it was, though, Franklin doesn’t want to revel in the moment for too long.

“This is a great accomplishment, but we won’t stop here,” Franklin said this morning as she waited to board a bus bound for Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium. “Democracy is evolving all the time. You never stop.”

Franklin, 81, attended her first Democratic National Convention in 1976. She was a delegate for U.S. Sen. Scoop Jackson in the year when the party chose Jimmy Carter as its candidate.

Since then, she’s attended five other national conventions including this year’s in Denver. This is her third convention as a delegate. She was a Jesse Jackson delegate in 1988.

Looking back, Franklin is struck by how far the country has come in the ensuing 32 years.

But she never doubted that she could see an African American in this position.

“I never lose hope,” Franklin said. “As long as there is life, there is hope, and if you keep working for the promise of this country, it will happen.”

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Apparently people have been flying into Denver in hopes of getting into Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium for the final night of the Democratic National Convention.

Up until today, the Washington delegation had 100 guest passes, but state party leaders managed to finagle 300 for today’s events, according to Dean Ando, the former Barack Obama classmate who is attending as a delegate.

But it’s still a long-shot, and it sounds like there are folks who made the trip who won’t get in.

For those who do, it should be an experience.

Emotions ran

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I connected last night with Tom Hilyard, the Tacoma Public Utilities board member who is in Denver as an alternate delegate.

He was obviously moved by the events he’s attended so far, beginning with an an interfaith service Sunday afternoon.

“It was very uplifting,” Hilyard said. The audience heard passages from the Quran and the Bible that called on people to “‘love thy neighbor as thyself’ as a place to start,” he said.

People of faith are receiving more attention at this year’s Democratic National Convention as

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Tacoma City Councilwoman Marilyn Strickland, one of the Pierce County Democratic delegates in Denver, is enjoying the people-watching the event affords — including keeping an eye on the Fox News platform that happens to be situated in front of the Washington state delegation.

The reporters were all business early in the day on Monday, Strickland said.

“By the time Michelle Obama gave her speech, one of them smiled and warmed up to the whole thing,” Strickland said.

Strickland didn’t want to read too much into it.

But she couldn’t help but note “Her expression and

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