Another one we've gotta win.

I know there are plenty of left of center folks out there with a variety of complaints about Maria Cantwell. Some of them think that she's secure enough that we can afford dalliances with Quixotic quasi-D's in a primary election, or send a message by voting Green in November.

Don't you believe it for a minute.

Sure, she's holding down a double digit lead against her Republican rival in early polls, but she's hovering around (and too often just under) the 50% mark, not a secure spot for someone who’s been targeted by the GOP and will face brutal attacks from the right. I have faith that Maria can fend them off, but not if simultaneous attacks from the left demand too much of her attention.

Seattle lefties may not think this is a serious race, but political insiders do. Warnings like this, from Chuck Todd of the National Journal, should be enough to make yellow dogs of us all, this year, in this race...

The cream of this crop is McGavick...If this election were held on an island -- as in, sans the national context -- we’d put our money on McGavick…McGavick knows exactly what he’s facing; he was the strategist who helped orchestrate former Sen. Slade Gorton’s (R) comeback in the state in 1988, the same year the national party lost the state in the presidential race. It’s also possible there is some Dino Rossi payback chit that can be put to use.

Do you really think you can play with this one? Do you actually believe we'd have been better off with Slade Gorton in the US Senate for the last six years? Or that we'll be better off with Son O' Slade in the Senate for the next six?

Nobody's perfect, but her record is more liberal than over 70% of the Senate, which puts her on the side of the angels more often than a good many of her Democratic colleagues. She's shown outstanding leadership on energy policy and she's solid on environmental issues, veterans issues and port security. She may not be in the vanguard of the revolution, but she's a solid Democratic Senator.

The bottom line, of course, is that next year the junior Senator from Washington will be either Maria Cantwell or Mike McGavick. That's just the truth, and what we do to help or hinder Maria over the next few months may well determine the Senate majority next January.

So which side are you on?

No doubts, no reservations, no hesitation here.

I'm with Maria.