Local News

Good Morning. Happy MLK and second inaugural day.

President Obama will be sworn in (again) to his second term today. Here is a link to the schedule, the ceremonial swearing in, the festivities, all of it. Question: Is there an excitement/enthusiasm gap between this inauguration and Obama’s first one in 2008? You make the call. Update: Swearing-in just concluded. What did you think?

Chris Christie, bad boy of the Republican Party. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie seems to be enjoying the heck out of his penchant for going rogue on his own party. Last week, he did it again, telling the National Rifle Association it was way out of line running an ad about Obama’s kids and public safety measures provided at their school.

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane

Gender gap and conservatives: It’s no secret that the Republican Party has a gender gap problem. Women favored President Obama pretty significantly in the recent election. In fact, the gender gap was described as historic.  U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is featured in a Talking Points Memo piece about conservative women tackling the GOP’s problem with women voters.

State Sen. Steve LItzow,
R-Mercer Island

State Sen. Steve Litzow: State Sen. Steve Litzow made noise in the Legislature when he put his name on a bill requiring reproductive parity. He is co-sponsoring the legislation along with state Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens. Litzow is clearly a moderate Republican, rising in his party. The Reproductive Parity Act was an issue in his recent re-election campaign. Even though Litzow is pro-choice, he voted against the bill amid the budget coup last year. Some Democrats tried to make that into a big issue. Litzow is featured as PubliCola’s lawmaker at the center of the action.

Other lawmakers in the news: State Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, does not want light rail on the new bridge crossing the Columbia River to Oregon. He is quite serious about this, having proposed legislation last week to make sure it doesn’t happen. His co-sponsor is Sen. Ann Rivers of La Center.

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