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The first poll in Washington’s 2010 US Senate race has been released, and it looks good for incumbent Democrat Patty Murray.

The Daily Kos/Research 2000 survey polled head-to-head matchups between Sen. Murray and both Dave Reichert and Rob McKenna, both of whom Murray led by double-digit margins.  Sen. Murray scored a respectable 55% favorable rating, whereas Reichert and McKenna registered 38% and 34% favorable respectively.

Not surprising really, though apart from Murray’s strength I think the survey also reveals the inherent weakness of the Republican bench here in Washington state. Indeed, that DKos/R2K would even bother to poll head-to-head with Reichert and McKenna is telling, considering that neither is likely to challenge Murray in 2010.

Reichert is a political lightweight with demonstrated shallow support even within his own district.  There is absolutely nothing to suggest that a Reichert Senate run would end up any differently than 2004, when an equally politically diminutive George Nethercutt got his ass whipped by the physically diminutive Murray.  Reichert might be stupid enough to give it go, but I doubt his handlers are.

Meanwhile, only 63% of respondents even had an opinion of McKenna, despite him being the highest ranking Republican official statewide, and arguably the most talented politician in the WSRP.  McKenna is widely considered to be biding his time in preparation for a 2012 gubernatorial run, a race for which, four years out, many political insiders rank him the frontrunner, despite his obvious handicap (ie, his Republicanism).  McKenna would have to be absolutely crazy to risk his gubernatorial bid on a quixotic challenge of Murray.  And McKenna is not crazy.

Of course, if DKos/R2K was going to run a poll, they had to do a head to head with somebody, and for the life of me I don’t have any better suggestions.  Dino Rossi?  Cathy McMorris-Rodgers? Mike!™ McGavick?  I don’t expect any of them to run, and I wouldn’t expect them to win if they did.  But who else does the WSRP have?

Just goes to show you how weak the Republican bench is in Washington state these days.

Given the state of our government’s budget situation, and the sense of urgency that our legislators are trying to display with their current round of budget freezes, it was eye-opening to see Brad Shannon’s report earlier this week that newly minted Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn had made an appearance in front of the citizen salary commission to, let’s be honest, whine about his salary.

Dorn gets paid $121,618 each year in his new post, and he told the commission that ranks him below his chief of staff, below the state Department of Early Learning head, and even below 121 district superintendents here in the state.

Adding some perspective, the 122nd largest school district in the state according to the 2000 census is located in lovely Coupeville, and a few other comparable in size include Elma, Naches Valley and Chimacum. Some of my favorite places all of them, but nothing one would equate with educational or cultural dominance.

It really begs the question, is Dorn grossly underpaid, or are these superintendents overpaid?

To be fair, Dorn didn’t ask for a raise, and he did acknowledge that he chose to run for the office knowing the pay grade in advance, but he basically made an official proclamation that, as the kids these days might put it, I’m just sayin’, is all.

Dorn added, according to Shannon, that he was more concerned that the most qualified administrators might not seek the post when they can make at least twice as much in any of the major school districts in the state.

Really, now?

Meanwhile, Dorn himself benefited from the lack of credible candidates in the race. When early favorite Richard Semler, the Richland superintendent, dropped out of the race because of a family health issue, it essentially became a two-person race between Dorn and incumbent Terry Bergeson, who obstinately stood by the WASL even when she couldn’t answer some of the test questions herself.

Still, to call attention to his comparatively low pay at a time when state salaries are frozen, unemployment is rising pretty much everywhere but Pittsburgh, and even just four days before the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passes in the U.S. Senate shows a galling lack of tact.

Especially since this isn’t Dorn’s first money grab. Recall that back in May of last year, he tried to boost his pension by getting his old colleagues in the legislature to make his retirement benefits based on his cushy $137,705 salary as the head of the Public School Employees Union instead of the $57,720 he earned as principal of Eatonville High School.

Dorn came to the office by way of Eatonville, a small Pierce County town that is best known to some of us as the home of former national prep football record holder Bobby Lucht, but this recent meeting smacks of an entirely different former Northwest athletic hero.

But hey, at least he is taking on the WASL, and most of us can agree that is far, far more important than a few thousand bucks here or there for a government job.

$100,000. That’s how much we raised for Darcy Burner last week via Act Blue alone, much of it coming over a 48 hour period. Wow. Simply wow.

That’s roughly equivalent to twenty days of early July fundraising, and it has lifted a huge burden off Darcy’s shoulders as she’s taken time off from her grueling campaign schedule to tend to herself and her family after losing their house in a fire. Now, thanks to her many friends online, Darcy can devote the time she needs to getting her life back in order without giving up any ground to Dave Reichert.

So a huge thanks to the dozens of blogs nationwide who joined in this effort, and to the thousands of members of our broader netroots community for this extraordinary show of affection and support. And of course, if you haven’t already given, it’s never to late to help buy Darcy a little extra time.

This morning HA joined with dozens of other blogs nationwide in an impromptu fundraiser to help give Darcy Burner the time she needs to tend to herself and her family in the aftermath of yesterday’s devastating house fire, and without having to worry about the demands of the campaign. $5,000 a day… that’s about how much money Darcy needs to raise to keep pace with Reichert at this point in the campaign… and each $5,000 chunk we raise online is one less day that she has to spend fundraising during the month of July.

Well, by 3PM this afternoon we’d already raised over $50,000 $60,000 $75,000… the equivalent of a ten twelve fifteen day breather for Darcy and her family. Amazing! And Markos at Daily Kos has now set an ambitious goal of raising her entire $150,000 July target:

We can’t help with the “campaign” side of things, but we can help with the money side of things. Darcy would have to raise about $150,000 in the month of July to keep up with her Republican opponent. Us bloggers are going to try and raise that for her.

Your generous donation is more than just an investment in WA-08 and the US House, it is a precious gift of time… time that Darcy and her family need to put their lives back together. So please join us in giving today.

An estimated 75,000 rallied to hear Barack Obama speak in Portland today, just days before the Oregon primary.  Blue Oregon has video of the massive rally that gives a good feel for the size of the crowd.

Imagine John McCain drawing a crowd of this size.  Betcha can’t.

On May 8 the Washington State Republican Party reported a $30,000 contribution from the Republican Governors Association, which in itself wouldn’t be all that extraordinary except for the fact that the check was cut on January 24th.

That’s four months late in reporting a pretty substantial chunk of change, and I’m told even then they only filed after being prompted by the Public Disclosure Commission in response to an inquiry from a watchdog following up on the RGA’s own federal reports.

I suppose it was most likely an accounting screw-up rather than a deliberate attempt to evade our public disclosure laws, but if they can’t audit their own books it doesn’t give much credence to the GOP’s tired old saw of being the party of fiscal responsibility.

While most of the rest of us are preparing to celebrate the new year by eating and drinking too much, Darcy Burner is spending the day glued to the phone, calling potential donors to ask them for their help in meeting her all important 4th Quarter fundraising goals, and according to Darcy she is tantalizingly close to meeting one key target: she’s just $10,000 shy of reporting $600,000 cash on hand. Where Darcy’s fundraising stands at the end of the year in relation to her opponent and other Democratic challengers will help determine how much early support she gets from the DCCC and other organizations, so if you haven’t already given, please give to Darcy before midnight tonight.

Of course Darcy’s not the only progressive challenger out there who needs your help to leap past their fundraising targets, so please consider giving to the full slate of Blue Majority candidates, and help us make 2008 a very happy new year.

Tonight on “The David Goldstein Show”, 7PM to 10PM on News/Talk 710-KIRO:

7PM: Radio Kos with Kagro X and BarbinMD
Daily Kos contributing editors Kagro X and BarbinMD join me for the hour for a year-in-review, and a look ahead to 2008… or at the very least, this week’s Iowa caucus.

8PM: Are you getting ripped off?
In his new book “Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day — and What You Can Do About It,” Bob Sullivan reveals the surprising costs of hidden fees, and how you can save as much as $1000 a year avoiding them. Sullivan writes the popular blog The Red Tape Chronicles for MSNBC.com; he joins us for the hour to take your calls.

9PM: TBA
Liberal propaganda.

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

Tonight on “The David Goldstein Show”, 7PM to 10PM on News/Talk 710-KIRO:

7PM: Special Session or Special Olympics?
Our Democratic leadership sure is “special” aren’t they, if they think a revenue cap below the rate of inflation is either good politics or good policy? The Stranger’s Josh Feit was down in Olympia for Thursday’s debacle and he joins us in studio for his first hand take and a discussion of the inevitable fallout.

8PM: Does WalMart have an obligation to treat its workers fairly?
A class action suit was filed this week, alleging as many as 75,000 were illegally denied overtime pay and work breaks. Tough shit for the workers? Or does WalMart have an obligation to treat them fairly?

9PM: Are we squandering America?
Robert Kuttner is the co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect magazine, and the author of a new book, “The Squandering of America: How the Failure of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity,” and he joins us in studio for the hour. With wages stagnating and the gap between the very rich and everybody else growing ever wider, Kuttner argues for a return to the “managed capitalism” that guided the great economic expansion from 1948 to 1973, an era during which the U.S. economy, wages, and incomes flourished, and a rising tide really did lift all boats. Kuttner appears tomorrow night, 7:30 PM at Seattle’s Town Hall, for a book reading and signing.

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

Tonight on “The David Goldstein Show”, 7PM to 10PM on News/Talk 710-KIRO:

7PM: Are Skip Rowley et al buying the KC Prosecutor?
Eastside developer Skip Rowley, Seattle developer Martin Selig and cellphone billionaire Bruce McCaw illegally launder $100,000 through the WSRP and into Dan Satterberg’s campaign… and the local media shrugs with indifference. Is this what Satterberg meant when he said he would keep his office out of politics and politics out of his office? Democratic candidate Bill Sherman joins me in studio. I expect him to speak bluntly.

8PM: Who is the father of the two-party system?
In his book American Creation, Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic, historian Joseph Ellis wrote of the founding fathers: “they created political parties as institutionalized channels for ongoing debate, which eventually permitted dissent to be regarded not as a treasonable act, but as a legitimate voice in and endless argument.” The Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner joins me by phone to discuss his book.

9PM: TBA
More liberal propaganda.

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

Tonight on “The David Goldstein Show”, 7PM to 10PM on News/Talk 710-KIRO:

7PM: The end of secular politics?
In his book The Theocons: Secular America Under Siege, Damon Linker argues that the ultimate goal of the theocon movement and their Republican allies is “the end of secular politics.” The former editor of the theocon journal First Things, Linker sat down with me earlier this week to talk about his book and the impact of the theocons on the 2008 election.

8PM: Wingnut Update
The first annual Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week has come to a close, and I’ve got exclusive audio of Michael Medved’s rousing speech to the University of Washington College Republicans. Plus kissing principals, trickstery insurance companies and other liberal propaganda.

9PM: TBA
Even more liberal propaganda.

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

On Tuesday we kicked off a netroots fund drive for Bill Sherman, with an ambitious, five-day target of $5,000 in online donations, and once again our region’s progressive community came through. 101 of you donated a total of $5,335. I personally thank all of you.

I spoke with Bill early last night, after we had passed our target but before the tally was final, and I can’t tell you how grateful he was. We didn’t just raise enough money for a targeted mailing, we created a whole lot of excitement and buzz, prompting more well-heeled donors to open up their checkbooks and help close the money gap between Bill and Republican Dan Satterberg. Bill might still be outspent nearly two-to-one, but if he can raise enough money to get his message out, he’s in a great position to be our first Democratic King County Prosecuting Attorney in over sixty years. So if you haven’t already given, please give now.

And while we didn’t hit my personal target of 200 new donors, 101 represents an amazing response rate relative to the few thousand readers who hit the participating blogs on a daily basis. By comparison, earlier this month Satterberg held his last big fundraising event of the campaign, attracting about 60 donors. By that measure, we kicked his ass, and with only a handful of blog posts. Not bad at all.

What we are witnessing both nationally and locally is an emerging progressive movement with the potential to challenge the dominance of both party’s political money machine. When Darcy Burner and I first met back in 2005, and talked about the role the blogs might play in supporting her campaign, the first thing I told her was “don’t expect us to raise you any money.” We can create buzz, I said, help frame the debate and debunk media coverage, but we just can’t raise money. And so nobody was more surprised than me when HA readers contributed over $30,000 to Darcy Burner and Peter Goldmark over a ten-month period in 2006.

Then came Darcy’s astounding $125,000 national netroots funder — over a weekend in August — and now Bill’s $5,335, which relative to the size of the audience is at least as impressive, if not more so.

The point is, that by helping Bill win we are not just gaining a progressive perspective on the administration of justice in King County, we are sending a message to the local political establishment that the rules are changing. As the Democratic Party and other progressive organizations have increasingly relied on local bloggers to get their message out, we have necessarily played an important role in helping to shape their message. And now, in a campaign finance system where most races have contribution limits, our growing ability to harness the financial resources of a diffuse netroots community, and focus it on a handful of very local races, has the potential to transform our movement into one of the most sought after “endorsements” in the state. When a union or corporate PAC or wealthy individual can only give $700 to a race, but we can bring in thousands — in $50, $25, $10 increments — our broader progressive voice becomes louder than any individual special interest.

This is a slow process; it will move forward in fits and starts. But together, we have the potential to transform the face of local and national politics.

Send a message — help elect Bill Sherman.

Tonight on “The David Goldstein Show”, 7PM to 10PM on News/Talk 710-KIRO:

7PM: Is President Bush coming to town to raise money for the Democrats?
President Bush is coming to Bellevue tomorrow for a high-dollar fundraiser for Dave Reichert, but there’s a good chance he could end up raising more money for Democratic challenger Darcy Burner than for the Republican incumbent. Burner will be in the studio with me to talk about her Virtual Town Hall on Iraq she’ll be holding tomorrow, just down the street from the President, and the $100,000 netroots fundraiser that’s been organized around. Panel moderator and Daily Kos front page blogger Joan McCarter will join us be phone, as will retired Major General Paul Eaton.

8PM: Primary wrap-up; general election preview
Democratic consultant Christian Sinderman and Republican consultant and former WA State GOP chair Chris Vance join me by phone for wrap up on Tuesdays primary and a look forward to the November general election. Will the Republicans continue their slide? Will voters approve roads and transit? Tune in and ask the experts.

9PM: TBA

I’m filling in all week for Frank Shiers, Monday through Friday, from 9PM to 1AM on Newsradio 710-KIRO. The 9PM hour tonight features a candidate forum between Bill Sherman and Keith Scully, both seeking the Democratic nomination for King County Prosecutor. At 10PM, noted chronicler of right-wing extremist hate speech Dave Neiwert joins me to discuss noted right-wing extremist hate talker Bill O’Reilly.