Local News

The Seattle Times political team explores national, state and local politics.

Good Morning.

Former President  Carter crowing: Former President Jimmy Carter knows a thing or two about winning and losing national presidential contests. And, sure, there is a bit of grandfatherly smug oozing through his pores. But Carter told MSNBC he thinks the turning point in the recent election came when his grandson, James, contributed to the stunning revelation about Republican Mitt Romney and his comments about 47 percent of the American population who don’t pay taxes and see themselves as victims.

Watch and listen for yourself.

The Twitter-verse is ga ga about Hillary. Twitter lit up this week with word that New York Mayor Bloomberg asked Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to run for New York Mayor in 2013. Hillary said, no. And here are some of the tweets from all the hullabaloo.

Sen. Patty Murray is not kidding about middle class tax cuts.  Washington Sen. Patty Murray is very much the public face for Senate Democrats trying to win middle class tax cuts. She heads back to the Senate floor Wednesday to discuss what is becoming her favorite topic.

Here is an excerpt from this morning’s press release:

Today, Wednesday, December 5^th, U.S. Senator Patty Murray will return to the Senate floor to continue to put pressure on her colleagues in the House to pass the Middle Class Tax Cut Act, which the Senate passed in July. The bill would extend tax cuts for 98% of workers and 97% small business owners, and would let the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire as scheduled.  Senator Murray will also discuss Speaker Boehner’s recent proposal that would protect the rich from payer higher rates, as well as her support for Minority Leader Pelosi’s discharge petition to bring the Senate bill to the House floor for a vote.