Viva La Cola!

Founded in January 2009, PubliCola is a blog about Seattle written by journalists who are dedicated to non-partisan, original daily reporting that prioritizes a balanced approach to news. Started by longtime local editor and award-winning reporter Josh Feit, PubliCola is the first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol.

PubliCola was off and running. In June 2009, PubliCola hired another award-winning journalist, super-sourced Seattle city hall reporter Erica C. Barnett.

People were afraid that blogging would change journalism. Instead, we believe journalism can change blogging. Twenty-first century journalism may look and feel different, and yes Erica isn't afraid to get cranky, but we're committed to making sure online news still delivers independent, reliable, even-keeled coverage. And most of all, we're committed to making sure the coverage sparks honest civic debate.

Bringing you cola for the people, PubliCola is named after Publius Valerius PubliCola, the alias for the authors of the Federalist Papers—the original bloggers.

x close
The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

Tea Party Candidate Edges Ahead of Rep. Larsen in Primary Count

2010 Election, Politics   August 25, 2010 at 10:00 am Josh Feit

Snohomish County Council Member (and previous Larsen opponent), John Koster, a hardline conservative and Tea Party favorite, pulled ahead of five-term incumbent Democratic Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA, 2, Northwest Washington) by 161 votes in the primary after yesterday’s count. Koster got 42.16 to Larsen’s 42.06.

Two other Democratic candidates—challenging Larsen from the left—pulled over 10 percent, so Larsen is facing a sort of Dino Rossi situation here, where he needs the ideologues in his base to come over in the general. (There was also another Republican in the race who got 5.4 percent.)

The PI.com’s Joel Connelly has a good post on the race which comes with a provocative comment from Snohomish county lefty organizer, activist, and blogger Chad Shue:

Although the Larsen camp is counting on supporters of his two Progressive challengers, they shouldn’t be counting chckens before they hatch.

Shue did a long Q&A with Larsen earlier this summer. And our Larsen endorsement, which was mostly about Koster (whose campaign was run by anti-gay rights activist Larry Stickney) is here.




  • http://43rddemocrats.org Michael M.

    A fun tidbit – Larsen beat out Koster back in 2000, Larsen being a County Council member and Koster a State Rep. The next year, Koster ended up winning the County Council seat that Larsen left when he went to D.C.

    Anyway, this is one of the most alarming results from the Primary, IMO, and Chad isn’t helping at all. In fact, Chad says he agrees with Larsen on just about everything, but because Larsen has voted for funding for the two wars (even though he voted against the Iraq war resolution), Chad thinks he isn’t liberal enough.

    Rick Larsen has been a stellar advocate for the 2nd Congressional District. As a freshman member of the House, in 2001, when it was under Republican control, Rick authored and pushed through a pipeline safety bill (it was still very fresh in the memory of folks in NW Washington the pipeline explosion in Bellingham that killed a couple kids).

    He was instrumental in protecting wilderness area in the North Cascades.

    He opposed the Iraq war from the beginning, supported Health Care all the way through the process (his money quote: “We have the facts, they have Glen Beck”), backed financial reform, is great on the environment, equality, women’s rights, etc, etc, etc.

    He is the real deal. A pragmatic Progressive in a moderate district.

    Chad needs to shut the fuck up. His candidate had no chance of winning, not only the primary, but the general, and if he thinks sitting around on his hands, and all but encouraging progressives to stay home (so to speak) in November is going to help his cause, he’s greatly mistaken. The 2nd CD will not elect a Jim McDermott.

    Once you get out of Lowell and Bellingham, there’s the reality of Mount Vernon, Camano Island, Burlington, Arlington, etc, etc.

    That said, Rick obviously has quite the fight ahead of him. But I am confident that he can pull it off. He’s great at retail politicking, he’s a generally nice guy, he’s pretty damned smart, and, unlike Koster, he has accomplishments.

    Never mind the fact that Koster’s campaign is run by a fucking nut-job, point to one legislative success he’s ever had? He’s always been a failure, and while I understand that he needs a new job (term limits in SnoCo make this his last term on the County Council), his constant railing against government spending, while having always lived off the government teat, is hypocritical at best. Time for him to retire permanently from politics.

  • http://www.theleftshue.com Chadshue

    Michael,

    Such language…Do you kiss your partner with that mouth?

  • http://43rddemocrats.org Michael M.

    Oh, the things I do with my mouth :-) I was channeling my inner-Ivan. HA!

    But I stand by what I said here, and in my comment on your FB. Larsen is not like Baird, but his district isn’t that dissimilar.

    We are in a year that is exceptionally tough for Democrats, and progressives like you and I have options. I believe that choosing to sit back will hurt progressive causes in the long term. Things move slow now in D.C. and Olympia – but with the GOP in charge, they’ll come to a grinding halt.

  • Gossip Hound

    Holy shit! That sucks. Where’s my checkbook?

  • http://peacetreefarm.org N in Seattle

    Can a tired old pol who’s been in one governmental office or another for years be a tea-hadist?

    Koster’s really more of an old-line Craswellian crazy.

  • http://43rddemocrats.org Michael M.

    Ellen was one of the original tea-baggers. Blast from the effing past…and great analogy.

  • never again

    The real lesson here should be the 2000 election for President. Those progressives who thought there were no differences between Gore and Bush stayed home or went with Nader. As we all know there WERE real differences between the candidates in matters of life, death, and prosperity, and the consequences will shape the next generation. People who care about the legacy of Bush v. Gore should be lining up passionately for Larson.

  • http://pudge.net/ pudge

    Actually, if Koster only “needed a new job,” he’d stay where he is and run for Council Exec., where he would have an excellent chance to win. Probably even better than his chances here.

    The bad news for Larsen is that independents who didn’t vote in the primary will heavily favor Koster in the general. Even if Larsen gets all the Shues to vote for him in the general, he’s still got a tough road ahead. And Larsen’s lying about Koster and the Tea Party (trying to paint them all as racists, just after meeting with them to try to get their votes!) did him no favors.

    And frankly, the more people that think Larsen is a “pragmatic progressive,” the better Koster will do. And please, let’s get out his record on health insurance reform, where he said all along he was against this part of it, and that part of it, and then voted for it anyway … despite his District being opposed to it.

    Larsen’s in huge trouble, and his only way forward is the same road he’s been taking: dishonestly attacking Koster as some terrible extremist (which is just how Larsen beat Koster in 2000, after Koster won the primary …).

  • Kayaker

    Shue and progressives in the 2nd CD are finally flexing their political muscle. Larsen has been two-faced for too long. His conscience has become divorced from his political philosophy, and instead, is more in tune with what is politically expedient. Progressives would do better to sit this one out, and regroup in ’11 and ’12 to support a reality-based candidate in the primary.

  • Anonymous

    Exactly. I’m staying home. Hell, I might even vote for Koster just to teach these idiots a lesson. It’s not like Koster will survive more then one term anyway.

  • Anonymous

    Indeed! Fuck Larsen! I’d rather stay at home or vote for Koster.