"our caucus reject the notion that both you and Sen. Sheldon are, under your proposed structure, designated as Democrats"

wow I missed that before. how slimy of them.

Go get 'em, Ed!

Ed's pen is mightier than the sword.

I am seeing Ed deeper than before he was majority (?) leader. I know he wants to be mayor, but He is a refreshing change from Frank Chopp. Too bad he can't stick around as long.

I guess the Tomicans didn't really want to share power after all. I am shocked. You mean they really only wanted bipartisan cover for their antics?

Normally one would expect Democrats would be in favor of this Europeanized Parlimentaryesque coalition forming move.

Great move on Ed's part. Call their bluff. Either they switch labels and become rethugs in name as well as deed or they caucus with the party they campaigned as members of. And, in either case, they lose their sudden power broker status.

oh and @4: I agree. Ed's already showing more spine than Chopp. I hope he decides to stay in Oly, we need him there more than we do here.

Not going to have cake and eat it, too, rule.

@6, they are, but that's not what the Republicans are offering.

Wow. Way to go, Ed! The ball is now in the DINOs' court.

The background behind all of this is the 8 years of citizens voting for a 2/3rds majority for raising taxes.

Each and every time the "representative" government of Democrats has fought the will of the people on tax increases.

The current party system forces a choice between socially conservative Republicans and tax-hungry Democrats.

This is the opposite of what people want.

They want socially progressive politicians but do not want centrist high tax governance.

So, the worst that could happen for the power brokers is for the moderate ends of each party to come together and form a Great Middle that is truly representative of the people. At that point the game is over...and a really representative, middle of the road, local based political coalition is born.

Move over wingnuts and urbists, your reign is ended...welcome back to Eisenhower Republicanism.

Bailo, when Eisenhower was President, the high-earner tax was in the 70 percentile. These Republicans and the people who vote for them have nothing in common with Eisenhower Republicans, nor are they in any way moderates.

@12

"welcome back to Eisenhower Republicanism."

wait...does that mean a return to 91% tax rates on the highest earners in the state?

What the people want is all their social services, and more funding for schools, without more taxes.

@12 Eisenhower was a Republican who believed in massive 'big government' projects like the Interstate Highway System -and the taxes to pay for them - plus progressive social policies like school desegregation. Today's Republicans have nothing in common with Ike.

@12: you say "tax-hungry democrats", i say responsible legislators who don't want to cut the budget to the bone as it will harm the state. as it is already doing - come out of your bunker & look at UW tuition and the condition of our roads.