The news that top anthrax specialist Bruce E. Ivins apparently committed suicide as the government was preparing to charge him in the 2001 anthrax terrorist attacks, and especially this Glenn Greenwald column about the questions it raises, led me to Google around seeking more information about Ivins. Some letters to the editor written by one Bruce Ivins of Frederick, Maryland, may give some insight into his mindset.

Vancouver, WA--A friend of mine returned last night from being trained for her caucus and told me she had been instructed that people who register at the caucus site tomorrow should not be allowed to participate in choosing candidates. She then tried to find out from another site coordinator if this was accurate, and that person also told her on-site registrants may not help pick the candidates. I also know that a third site coordinator is stating the same.

Unfortunately, these site coordinators are being directly contradicted by the information put out by the state party.

More below.

Congressman Dave Reichert, R-Wash., who is locked in a fierce re-election battle with Democratic challenger Darcy Burner in Washington's 8th congressional district, has sent voters another glossy mailing using taxpayer dollars, according to the Burner campaign.

House rules prohibit such mailings 90 days and less before an election. But Reichert appears to have exploited a little known loophole in House rules that allows committee and sub-comittee chairs to send mailings, according to a Burner campaign news release.

Reichert is chair of a subcommittee attached to the Homeland Security Commitee.

The good news is that Darcy Burner is in a dead heat.

The bad news is that the NRCC is dumping tons of money into the district to try and defeat Darcy Burner in her bid to deafeat Republican Dave Reichert in WA-08.

Newspaper companies in Washington state are funding a conservative attempt to repeal the state's estate tax.

The Seattle Times, The (Vancouver) Columbian, The Wenatchee World and Pioneer Newspapers, which owns a chain of small publications, have all donated cash to a committee campaigning for I-920.

As Washington state approaches its primary next Tuesday, Sept. 19, voters are being subjected to an unprecedented barrage of negative television ads for judicial races.

This Andrew Garber article in the Seattle Times this morning highlights the wads of campaign cash flowing into Washinton state as far-right astro-turf groups seek to elect pliant judges to the state Supreme Court:

OLYMPIA -- An unprecedented amount of money is flowing into this year's state Supreme Court races, much of it financing attack ads by conservative and liberal factions fighting over the ideological bent of the court.

The Garber article does a good job detailing the flurry of activity in the Supreme Court races, two of which will be decided for certain on Tuesday. For the sake of brevity, I won't excerpt anymore of Garber's work.

Glenn Greenwald has an important post asking why a press corps that became obsessed with Jane Hamsher's "blackface" image of Joe Lieberman has not managed to notice that UN Ambassador John Bolton was "interviewed" by Pamela Oshry of Atlas Shrugged.

A post at MyDD by Matt Stoller details how the Lieberman campaign has resorted to thuggish tacticts, hijacking a Lamont event and being extremely aggressive.

I will gladly delete if Mr. Stoller cross-posts, but I thought it important to alert readers here, or if I have missed a duplicate.

Details below the fold.

A descendant of one of the founders of what is now Safeco insurance has filed a lawsuit against GOP Senate candidate Mike McGavick, alleging fraud concerning McGavick's $28 million "golden parachute." McGavick is the likely Republican nominee to face Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.)

Via Haaretz.com comes news that Israel has announced a bombing pause that includes a 24-hour period to allow civilians to flee south Lebanon.

Kind of interesting that the shotgun-firing Bush ranch neighbor, Larry Mattlage, has a long-standing agreement to allow NBC access to his property to film the Bush ranch.

Some Crawford Residents Grow Weary of `Camp Casey' (Update2)

NBC News has an agreement with Mattlage that allows its news crews access to his land to obtain long-range camera shots of the Bush ranch, said correspondent Kelly O'Donnell. The agreement, disclosed yesterday because Mattlage became a news figure, has been in place since Bush became president.

State Rep. Jim Dunn (R-17) has, in his fantasy world, unilaterally amended the Constitution, because he doesn't believe part of what it says.

Dunn represents part of Clark County, WA, across the Columbia River from Portland, OR.

More below the fold.

Sponge-Brain James Dobson:

Conservative group targets 'pro-homosexual' SpongeBob video

Cross posted at my tiny blog, Columbian Watch.

The AP reports two people are filing challenges to the election of Christine Gregoire.

The lawsuits were filed by two private citizens, according to the AP, with no obvious connections to the Rossi campaign.

I did some quick googling and checked the state Public Disclosure Commission site, and came up empty as well.

Link and excerpts below the fold....

Cross-posted at my tiny blog, Columbian Watch

The background is that some of the bitter-enders supporting Rossi have set up a web-site. It's orange. Get it?

Since, sooner or later they will attempt to portray this effort as a genuine grass-roots affair, a little WHOIS searching and googling led to this diary. (below the fold.)

Late today the Clark County Elections Department put out a press release stating they would review 28 ballots on Tuesday.

Twenty-four of those ballots are supposedly from Rossi voters.

More below the fold.

While it is certainly good news that Christine Gregoire appears to have triumphed in Washington, early indications are that the state GOP is now going to charge that many military ballots were wrongly rejected.

Earlier tonight, The Washington State Republican Website asked for people to report instances of military members whose votes were not counted.

The Republicans are trying to frame the issue by saying that it's not fair to have military ballots mistakenly excluded, and allow the King County ballots to count.

Obviously, it's a GOP ploy to create cover for them to continue fighting in court and in the Legislature.

I have googled around a bit, and these GOP claims about rejected military ballots appear to have surfaced in the last 24 hours or so in Freeperland. Have not found anything with a link, of course. But it's already making its way into the SCLM.

Below the fold is a (cleaned up) version of a post I wrote for my tiny blog, Columbian Watch.

Pierce County, WA Superior Court judge Stephanie Arend, who today blocked the counting of more than 700 ballots, was rated "minimally qualified" by the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association when she ran for office in 1999.

A barely qualified judge gets to disenfranchise hundreds of voters.

And it's at the behest of the state GOP, which has been decrying "lawyers and judges" all along.