Washington State University Snubs Idaho-Born Candidate

Recycled News from Spokane, Washington - 2,500 miles outside the Beltway

Washington State University and the City of Spokane rejected an offer to host the only vice-presidential debate in 2008 because the vice-presidency just isn't important enough for America's 110th largest city. Now, we have a Republican nominee born in Sandpoint, ID (a mere 75 miles from Spokane), attended North Idaho College (a mere 30 miles away), and attended the University of Idaho (7 miles from WSU). As the Spokesman-Review notes:

On Friday, Sarah Louise Heath Palin -- the current governor of Alaska -- became John McCain’s surprise vice presidential pick.

It's only the second time in history that a former Pacific Northwest resident has made a presidential ticket. Charles McNary of Oregon was Republican Wendell Wilkie's running mate in 1940.

If elected, Palin would be the first Northwest resident to serve as either vice president or president.

Ooops.

Could Washington State Demand Nationwide Recounts?

Olympia, WA - 2,800 miles outside the Beltway

The Spokesman-Review reports:

Lawmakers clashed today over a plan to award all of Washington's electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the nationwide popular vote.

Proponents say it's a way of doing away with the winner-take-all Electoral College system under which someone - such as Al Gore in 2000 - can win more total votes yet still lose the election.

...

Republicans and one conservative Democrat called it a bad idea, saying it could award Washington's electoral-college votes to a candidate most Washington voters oppose.

"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my life," said state Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver.

Opponents also argued that the bill would reduce the likelihood of presidential candidates stopping here to campaign. Instead, they'd likely focus their efforts on a handful of large cities and states, said state Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield. He calculated that a candidate could get enough votes from just the 12 most-populous states to win if the race was decided on popular vote only.

"I think if you want to disenfranchise the voter, then you vote for this bill," he said.

It is interesting that they cite 2000 as a great example of when this would work, but ignore the fact that the reported nationwide popular vote was so close enough to require a recount under many state laws - as well as nationwide lawsuits trying to change the numbers. 50 Floridas. Hundreds or thousands of lawsuits. The Electoral College keeps looking better.

Washington State University Snubs Vice Presidential Debate

Eastern Washington - 2,500 miles outside the Beltway

The Spokesman Review reports:

Washington State University's push to host a national political debate in Spokane wasn't snuffed out... by a search committee. The snub was self-inflicted.

Michael Tate, vice president of equity and diversity at WSU, announced... that Spokane had been passed over in its bid to host one of three presidential debates next fall.

But he failed to mention that WSU had been offered the chance to entertain the only vice presidential debate of the 2008 election, which attracted more than 43 million viewers in 2004 when Dick Cheney squared off against John Edwards.

"We had an offer to host the vice presidential debate," Tate confirmed, "but we decided, with the focus we had right from the beginning of getting one of the three presidential debates, that we were just not in the position to accept the vice presidential debate."

...officials in St. Louis, which got the vice presidential debate after WSU turned it down, were elated to receive the national attention by default.

"Spokane turned it down, great. St. Louis will take that business," said Donna Andrews, public relations director of the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission.

...

[After being defeated in his election bid] Spokane Mayor Dennis Hession said... he was aware of WSU's decision and supported the call.

WSU is located in Pullman, Washington - 75 miles south of Spokane in Whitman County. The article never addresses why WSU would have hosted the event when at least three universities are actually located in Spokane County. (And at least one recognized the importance of Vice Presidents when it endorsed Al Gore in 2000.)

Tom Keefe, a former Spokane County Democratic Chairman [and failed candidate for Congress], called Tate's decision a "blunder."

"I think beginning with the Clinton-Gore relationship, and clearly with the Bush-Cheney relationship … the vice president in the modern term is an important player," Keefe said. "For Washington State University to turn that down tends to confirm Washington State University's own self image as a second-rate place."

Curt Fackler, Spokane County Republican Chairman, called it "the wrong decision."

"Anytime you can be on the national stage and show off your area, that's a good opportunity," Fackler said.

...

Harry Sladich, director of the Spokane Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, worked with Tate to research the potential impacts and benefits of Spokane hosting a debate. He learned from a reporter Tuesday of WSU's decision.

...

Sladich said his organization focused its research on the impact the presidential debates. It never talked to city officials who previously hosted vice presidential debates.

"I'll bet the cities who hosted the vice presidential debates didn't have near the impact," he said. "We would rather save ourselves for another day when we can get a presidential debate."

Because of this laziness, WSU and Spokane should be forever barred from holding such events.

A member of Sladich's own staff indicated seven months ago that the bureau was considering the chance of landing the vice presidential debate. Tim Rhodes, a convention sales manager for the bureau who worked with WSU on the application, told The Spokesman-Review in April that Spokane has a track record of success hosting such events.

"It doesn't get much bigger than a presidential debate or a vice presidential debate," Rhodes said at the time. "I don't think we will ever host a Super bowl, so next to that, this is big."

Instead, no debate will held at a location noticeably west of the Mississippi.