Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I considered most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Sen. Russ Feingold (WI) was eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

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Almost every Tuesday is primary day somewhere, it seems, and today Wyoming and Washington state get the honors.

The most hotly contested primary race of interest is the Republican race in Wyoming's at-large U.S. House district, where Republican Barbara Cubin's retirement has created an exciting open-seat race.

Orange to Blue Democrat Gary Trauner is the Democratic nominee, while four Republicans (two of them serious candidates) squared off for the nomination.

The GOP nomination, which was contested primarily between wealthy rancher Mark Gordon and Wyoming State Treasurer Cynthia Lummis, has apparently gone Lummis' way. She won by 9 points, 46% to 37%.

That's just fine for Trauner, as he won't have to face Gordon's self-funding capabilities ($1 million of his $1.2 million raised was out of pocket), nor his favorable profile (seems to be a good fit for Wyoming, as a rancher).

Lummis has won statewide office before, it is true. But she also has a longstanding feud with popular Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal, which may spur the Governor to campaign harder for Trauner this cycle than he did during Trauner's narrow 2006 loss.

As mcjoan noted earlier, this was an exceptionally ugly primary, and there may well be bad blood between Lummis' supporters, and Gordon's, for several months. Also, both GOP candidates have dumped their financial resources into this race, while Trauner, running unopposed, sits on a nice nest egg of $660,000.

Meanwhile, it is also primary day in Washington State, and the inaugural primary for their "top two" system. This is somewhat similar to Louisiana's old "jungle primary" in that the top two finishers advance to the general, regardless of party. However, unlike the jungle primary, you can't win the whole thing by getting 50% on election day; it is a real primary election.

There are no real competitive primaries at the federal level in Washington state this time out, so this is essentially a beauty contest for general-election candidates. Turnout is expected to be high for a primary in Washington, due to their mail-in ballot system. As such, some were touting the Washington primaries as a preview of the general election matchups between Governor Christine Gregoire and her Republican opponent Dino Rossi, and between Republican Rep. Dave Reichert and his opponent, Orange to Blue Democrat Darcy Burner.

If they are previews of the general, however, we haven't learned anything we didn't know before; both election are going to be very close.

Gregoire is currently edging Rossi, 48% to 46%. She will likely finish the night with a slim lead as well.

Meanwhile, Burner trails Reichert, 47% to 44%, as of last note. However, the total Democratic vote in WA-08 currently exceeds 50%, which is good news.

Given the vagaries of the mail-in system, it's unlikely that results will be official until tomorrow or even Thursday. So good night to you all; we will post the percentages for WA-Gov and WA-08 as soon as we can.

Update: It's now 9 AM Eastern, and well under 50% of precincts are in, both statewide and in WA-08. This may take a while.

On the web:
Darcy Burner for Congress
Gary Trauner for Congress
Orange to Blue ActBlue Page

So yes it is only a primary and yes both Gregoire and Rossi move on but if Rossi wins tonight knock on wood it would give him momentum for the General Election and perhaps McCain would put more money in WA as well. Here are the current results. Results come from the WA Secretary of State website.

Link

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I considered most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Sens. Evan Bayh (IN) and Jack Reed (RI) were eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I considered most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Gov. Tim Kaine (VA) was eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I considered most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Fmr. Sen. Bob Graham (FL) was eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I consider most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Sen. Claire McCaskill (MO) was eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with a new top 14 list of names I consider most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH) and Fmr. Sen. Sam Nunn (GA) were eliminated in the previous round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the new final series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began last time with a new top 14 list of names I consider most likely to be named Obama's v.p. running mate, and we'll eliminate the bottom vote-getter each day until there is a winner, or a real-life winner is named by Obama. Starting today, candidates will be listed in order of votes from the previous poll, from most to least, so we'll have some idea of preference in this thread's voting should Obama decide before there is a series winner. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (NM) was eliminated in the first round.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Here in Washington Primary Day is almost upon us which means the first run of the Top 2 Primary System. Now I am wary of this new primary system but I guess I have to live with it for the time being. For those of you not familiar with the system it puts all the candidates for an office in one pool and voters vote for their choice. The two candidates with highest number of votes move on to the general. Oh and in Washington candidates are not part of a political party on the ballot but say what party they prefer if any. So for our current Governor, Christine Gregoire, she lists herself as prefers Democratic Party. Her main challenger Dino Rossi lists himself as prefers G.O.P. Party. Now this is a clear attempt for Dino to hide the fact that he is a Republican but it won’t work. As Governor Gregoire brilliantly put it G.O.P stands for Grossly Outdated Politician. I am hoping that the people of Washington soon realize what a disaster the Top 2 Primary System is and move for a change. Why is it so bad you ask? Let me tell you.

Dearest Fellow Kossacks:

Tonight, after a long, boring day at work and a glass of wine, I realized something of vital importance.

I suck.

My husband, the amazing man who tolerates my obsession with Markos (trust me....Markos hugged me during a book tour event for CTG and I don't even remember it, I was such a groupie!), bought me a signed copy of the new book by spending the $125 that was advertised earlier today in the FP.

Welcome back for more speculation! Today concludes the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p., and starts a new one ("final final"?).

The previous series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut next--who was cut was determined by averages of all this series's votes). Since Obama will pick soon, we'll see if we'll have time to complete another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Gen. (Ret.) Wesley Clark (AR) defeated Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (KS) to win the previous series. Starting today we'll run the top 14 names I now consider most likely (I know I may be wrong). I was going to run Bayh against the winner of this series alone, but it was pointed out this would not be exactly fair, so since Bayh and Clark have now both made the cut for this series, I decided to skip that.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

You'd think by now candidates would have figured out that you prevent having "Macaca Moments" by not showing your true colors in front of video cameras, but some of them are slow learners, I guess. In Washington, Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi tried to avoid having the opposition record him by having his goons rough up a cameraman--which was all captured on video. Oops.

Apparently, a "press conference" in Dino Rossi's world is not a public event. He's a mini-Bush in the making, his race fueled by bitterness and sour grapes from his narrow loss in 2004. It's encouraging that the Seattle Times (one of the least confrontational, most milque-toast major dailies in the nation when it comes to covering politics) actually covered this story. Hopefully they'll make a habit of it. Dino Rossi has skated far too long on his nice guy, harmless image.

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p., now down to the final two.

This series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut next--who was cut was determined by averages of all this series's votes). If Obama doesn't pick soon, we'll have time for another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Sen. Joe Biden (MBNA) was eliminated in the previous round. The remaining candidates, in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are listed in the poll from the most to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting. I am not saying that these are the most likely candidates: this is a poll of DKos preference among the 28 candidates we started with.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p., now down to the final three.

This series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut next--who was cut was determined by averages of all this series's votes). If Obama doesn't pick soon, we'll have time for another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) was eliminated in the previous round. The remaining candidates, in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are listed in the poll from the most to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting. I am not saying that these are the most likely candidates: this is a poll of DKos preference among the 28 candidates we started with.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut--who was cut was determined by averages generated from this series's votes only). We're now to the point where candidates are only being eliminated. It looks like Obama won't pick soon, so we may have time for another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Gov. Tim Kaine (VA) was eliminated in the previous round. The remaining candidates, just in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are listed in the poll from the most average votes to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are most likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and of course I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today continues the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with the bottom 14 names of 28, eliminated the lowest vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been cut--who was cut was determined by averages generated from this series's votes only). We're now to the point where candidates are only being eliminated. It looks like Obama won't pick soon, so we may have time for another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Sen. Russ Feingold (WI) was eliminated in the previous round. Fmr. Sen. John Edwards (NC) also left the series. The remaining candidates, just in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are listed in the poll from the most average votes to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are most likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and of course I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)

Welcome back for more speculation! Today we'll continue the final elimination series of possibilities for Obama's v.p.

This series began with the bottom 14 names, eliminated the bottom vote-getter(s) and replaced them with new name(s) from just up the list, reaveraging as we went (so each thread's bottom vote-getter[s] may not have been the ones cut--who was cut was determined by averages generated from this series's votes only). We're now to the point where candidates are not being rotated in, but only being eliminated. It looks like Obama won't pick very soon, so we may have time for another round before we see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. Rep. Robert Wexler (FL) was eliminated in the previous round. The remaining candidates, just in case Obama beats this series to the punch, are now listed in the poll from the most average votes to the least average votes in this series. So candidates near the bottom are most likely to be eliminated in this round of voting, which adds a certain element of strategic voting.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to state their name, unless you have further comments. I'm happy to hear all ideas in this open thread, and of course I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

(continued below the fold)