That's what I'm talking about.

Brenda at the Washington State Political Report picks up this Roll Call story via The Carpetbagger Report, which was my original source...

Led by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Senate Democrats will deliver a letter to President Bush on Tuesday asking him to support legislation to prevent price gouging in advance of summer's anticipated increase, pointing to the federal Energy Information Administration projections.

Democrats will also renew their invitation to Bush to convene a "bipartisan energy summit" to address issues of energy independence and volatility of energy prices.

When I saw the story, I went on a tour of the local blogosphere to get a range of comment, but so far it seems to be just Brenda (You go, girl!) and little ol' Upper Left.

That's a problem.

We can spend the next few months wondering just how much against the war Maria actually is, or whether she wants to have Scalito's child, or why she seems to think it's part of her job to represent eastern Washington agriculture, too, or whatever we choose to whine about.

Or, of course, we can talk about the fact that when the Democratic Leader of the US Senate wants to advance energy issues to the front of the agenda, he turns to our very own junior Senator to get the job done. We can celebrate Maria's willingness to be in the face of Bushco™ (and give a good tweak to Senator Stevens in the process) on those issues. We can be sure we're at least as loud in support of good behavior as we when we complain about our Senator's perceived shortcomings.

C'mon, team!

(And if I missed a local link, shout out in a comment.)

Washington Outsiders weighs in. "Good for our Senator Maria Cantwell."

And good for them! (Hat tip to Carl)