This, like everything Tim Eyman files, is a terrible idea. The initiative would require the state to redact names and contact information of people who sign initiatives when someone makes a public disclosure request for the petitions. Says the Secretary of State's office:

Initiative promoter Tim Eyman is taking aim at potential harassment of signature-gatherers and people who sign their petitions. One feature of his new initiative says the names, signatures and addresses of people who sign initiatives and referenda would be blacked out before petition sheets are made public by the state Elections Division.

This grows out of announced plans by some supporters of a new “everything but marriage” domestic partnership law to put online the names and addresses of all who sign petitions for Referendum 71.

Petitions signatures are public record so that the public can verify that they really are valid. And releasing a petition that has qualified for the a ballot without the stuff people write down on the petitions doesn't make any bloody sense, does it? That's like saying, "Here's your police report, but we've removed every word." Eyman's filed the measure as an initiative to the legislature—which looks like an attempt to comment on the threat to release the names of Referendum 71 signers—but this indicates he might also refile it in 2010 as an initiative to the people. The complete text, which contains a few less-terrible provisions, is here (.pdf).

SurveyUSA has released an opinion poll on Seattle's bag-tax referendum and mayoral candidates. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels leads the pack with 24 percent of likely primary voters and City Council Member Drago is second place at 15 percent, says the KING 5-sponsored poll. Interestingly, Drago leads among self-identified conservatives and Republicans. Former Sonic James Donaldson earned 14 percent support. The other candidates have eight percent support or less; they're basically toast. The real question, of course, is how a head-to-head match between Nickels and anyone else at all would shake out. Conventional wisdom suggests that, with less than a quarter of the voters supporting him, Nickels is in trouble.

And here's the bag-tax results, which indicate the vote could go either way:

Half of Seattle likely voters today say they are certain to vote yes on a ballot referendum that would require a 20 cent fee on disposable shopping bags; half say they are certain to vote no. Support for the measure is highest among young voters and among liberals, Democrats, and those with college degrees. Opposition is strongest among Republicans, conservatives, those without college educations, and among the oldest voters.

The Republican brand is poisonous. But Democratic County Council Member Larry Phillips doesn’t seem willing to shoot those poison darts at Republican Susan Hutchison, whom he’s challenging in the race for King County Executive. When asked if will he call out Hutchison—who has donated to Republican candidates, including Rossi and Bush, and served on the board of the goddamn Discovery Institute—as a “Republican,” he says, “I have no problem saying that she is a conservative’s conservative.” That’s not the same as calling her out as a Republican (a party affiliation that her campaign denies). Phillips is apparently trying to avoid using Hutchison's party identity as a weapon against her.

Instead, Phillips wants to distinguish himself on an issue-by-issue basis, or allow her silence on those issues to speak for itself. “I’m going to be talking about the issues and inviting her to debate them to draw her into this discussion, and the more she doesn’t talk about [the issues] and the local economy, the more people will know her to be unprepared for the office,” he says.

But his attempt to let Hutchison hang herself may not work.

It’s a striking contrast from Dow Constantine, another county council member running for executive, who has held repeated press conferences and has riddled the press with comments about Hutchison’s crazy Republican affiliations. Hutchison so far holds a mind-boggling lead—a 29-point margin, according to the most recent poll—that seems rooted in her wide name recognition from years as a KIRO anchor. Logic dictates that, in this "nonpartisan" race, King County's overwhelmingly Democratic electorate doesn't realize that Hutchison is a Republican.

But Phillips believes that her record—past contributions, affiliations, etc.—will speak for itself, so he doesn't need to focus on that. "It's not a name-calling or gimmick exercise," he says.

To advance his campaign, Phillips released a four-pronged environmental platform, called a “Greenprint for King County,” yesterday. It would: (1) protect waterways from pollutants and clean up dirty rivers and streams; (2) use $50 million in property taxes already reserved for protecting pristine areas to purchase land in the White River and Green River basin; (3) support development around transit and make sure light rail runs in places where development can grow, like near Highway 99 rather than I-5; and (4) seek federal cap-and-trade funding for energy-conservation projects in King County.

But it’s unclear that Phillips's “Greenprint” will get voters to give a shit about Hutchison’s views on the environment, or get at her Achilles heel to help them see her for what she is: a Republican's Republican.

Huffington Post put up this video of Glenn Beck talking with batshitcrazylady Michelle Bachmann about the census. They're both hopping mad! Why does the government want to count Americans*? And why don't they ask illegal immigrants if they're illegal immigrants? But in a rare moment, Bachmann actually out-crazies Glenn Beck when she suggests that the census might lead to internment camps. Watch our buddy Glenn at the very end of the clip:

I have never seen the likes of this before, and I don't know if I ever will again. Bachmann being nutsier than Glenn Beck is like someone shouting down Bill O'Reilly on the O'Reilly Factor, or getting Rush Limbaugh to admit that you've made a good point.

* Special note to Republicans who are suddenly suspicious of the census: It's in the fucking Constitution. The same document that insists you can keep your AK-47s also demands that an "Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct."