I’m surprised to find that Sen. Eric Oemig’s resolution has more traction than I thought. Indeed, I thought it was DOA. But after speaking to a few Senators yesterday and hearing that key party commitee chairs like Sen. Majority Leader Sen. Lisa Brown (D-3, Spokane), Govermnet Operations Chair Sen. Darlene Fairely (D-32, Forest Park), and Judiciary Chair Sen. Adam Kline (D-37, South Seattle) have all shown an interest in getting the bill a hearing and out of committee to beat the approaching legislative deadlines, it’s clear no one’s ready to dismiss Oemig’s resolution to move on impeachment.

Sen. Oemig actually didn’t have any official co-sponsors as of yesterday afternoon, but that’s because his colleagues were waiting for him to finalize the language (ie, tone it down a bit). He reports that he will shop for co-sponsors in caucus this morning and should have a number of co-sponsors when he officially unveils the resolution at a one o’clock press conference today in Olympia.

I got a sneak peek at Oemig’s resolution, and I have a column coming out today about it, but I didn’t have room to include the specifics from my lengthy interview with him. So here are some outtakes.

Sen. Oemig said that while there’s “a sense this is a federal issue… federal policies are really impacting policy at the state level. The $8 billion a month on the war is causing general cuts in funding for our state priorities like education and health care.”

He also said that when he was doorbelling last fall on the eastside, the anger at Bush and the war came up again and again. Specifically, one older man (with pro-military bumperstickers on his car) actually broke down crying when Oemig canvassed him, pleading with Oemig to do something about the war if elected. At the time, Oemig told the man it was a federal issue. But then other constituents started telling Oemig about a federal clause that allows state legislatures to push for impeachment. “They said, ‘If you’re elected would you vote Yes on that?’ I said absolutely I would. At the time, I had no idea I’d be the prime sponsor.”

Asked about the potential for the GOP to spoof the resolution as distracting from the business of the state, while at the same time stirring up a hotly partisan divide, Oemig said, “I believe the blue wave sent a very strong message that this President needs to be held accountable.”

Frustrated that Washington State’s lefties in Congress (Reps. McDermott and Inslee) don’t appear to be moving on an impeachment resolution—Oemig reports that he talked to staff from both offices and their response to doing something was “not satisfactory”— Oemig said: “This is too important to sweep it under the carpet. It would set a dangerous precedent [to let the President get away with things like illegal wiretapping and lying about war intel].”

Finally, Oemig said: “It’s not only the gentleman crying on his front porch that pushed me to do this, but I think about my son [a one-year-old] asking me in 10 years…What did you do?”

For some clarity on the legitimacy of Sen. Oemig’s resolution, I talked to UW prof Stewart Jay, a professor of Constitutional Law. He told me, absolutely, states have the standing to ask Congress to begin the process of impeachment. He also said that Congress can ignore the resolution. However, he added: “I can imagine that if a significant majority of states passed resolutions requesting the U.S. House to initiate impeachment [proceedings] it could have a political effect in Congress.”

Right now, California, New Jersey, and Vermont are all considering similar resolutions.

As I told Sen. Oemig last night, while I find the language and spirit of his resolution electrifying, I also think it’s politically goofy and quite frankly technically ill-conceived. For example, he says the war is robbing money from things like education and health care at the sate level. Okay. But putting Bush on trial over the next year has nothing to do with hastening an end to the war. If anything, impeachment hearings would divide Congress and sap the necessary bipartisan will that’s needed to end the war soon.

Sen. Oemig’s gesture makes me smile, but ultimately it’s just symbolic. In an era when political symbolism is a big deal, this may be more of a scarlet letter for local Democrats than a gold star. We’ll see how it goes in the next few weeks.