It's nice to be noticed...

...and Washington State politics doesn't always get a lot of attention elsewhere, but since Atrios invited Washington residents to chime in on his post about the campaign in Washington's 8th District, here are my thoughts.

Atrios took note of a post on Alben's campaign blog but felt obliged to make mention of Alben's primary opponent, Heidi Behrens-Benedict. That's more than reasonable. He's not familiar with the dynamics of the race, and has no real reason to be. Touting any and all Democratic candidates for open US House seats is a good thing, to be sure.

Make no mistake, though. If we're going to pick up the 8th CD seat, Alex Alben should be the candidate we go into November with. Heidi's a great Democrat, and did some real hard slogging for the Party in her three runs against Jennifer Dunn. She kept the Democratic banner aloft, and deserves full appreciation for that effort.

But, while Democrats for the US Senate, County Executive and Governor were carrying the 8th District, Heidi's share of the vote diminished with each successive campaign. She wasn't a candidate this time until Dunn dropped out of the race. Alex Alben came out early, ready to face Dunn head to head, and ready to commit significant personal resources to the effort.

He's just the kind of mainstream, business oriented candidate we can win this seat with, and if that sounds like an Upper Left endorsement, well, I haven't posted a link to Heidi's website, now, have I...