"Hillary's campaign surfaces"

Joel Connelly (Seattle P-I's "Strange Bedfellows" political blog):

The presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., kicks off with a rally on Saturday, Oct. 13th, nine days before the Democratic presidential frontrunner comes to Seattle.

The event is slated for 10 a.m., on the 2nd floor of the Century Ballroom, 915 E. Pine. It will feature a Democratic congressman on the way up, Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., and a King County Executive who lately talks about being burned out, Ron Sims.

Inslee has a couple of purposes for being there. The congressman is co-chair of Clinton's energy task force. And Inslee has coauthored a new book: Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy (Island Press), which praises Americans' bottom-up efforts at creating new technologies, while condemning the lethargy of the Bush administration.

Clinton is due in Seattle on Oct. 22nd to keynote state Democrats' Maggie Awards, an event named for the late Sen. Warren G. Magnuson, D-Wash., that honors party volunteers.

The senator will also do a fundraiser for her own presidential campaign.

The Clinton campaign's first major event in the state, a June fundraising dinner featuring former President Bill Clinton, saw ticket prices rapidly slide as organizers tried to fill a ballroom at the Westin.

It was the first time "Elvis" ever bombed in Seattle. Sen. Clinton leads in national fundraising, but has trailed her two principal opponents -- Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and ex-Sen. John Edwards -- in money raised in Washington.

A longtime Al Gore supporter, and leading 2004 "Deaniac" in the state, has informally taken charge of organizing the upcoming events. It is Pam Eakes, best known as founder of the group Mothers Against Violence in America.

The Century Ballroom was site of a 2000 Gore rally, with rock bands, at which the vice president sought to connect with younger voters. As his motorcade drove up Pine Street, a group of feminist demonstrators struck up the memorable chant, "Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Patrimony has got to go."