"Washington Doesn’t Matter?" (Updated)

UPDATE: As I suspected, this refers to the grassroots, volunteer office in Pioneer Square that is not part of the official campaign.

Eli Sanders (SLOG,The Stranger blog):

There’s been lots of talk (including from the likes of me) about how Washington State is unlikely to matter much in the process of picking a Democratic nominee, except as a place for candidates to round up big donations.

Included in the evidence of this: No candidate has opened a campaign office here.

Until now. A well-placed source tells me that this week, Barack Obama will become the first presidential candidate to open a field office in Washington State.

What does this mean? Maybe it’s the Obama campaign’s way of getting a jump on organizing for the the Washington Democratic caucuses, which happen on Feb. 9 and would be nice for any candidate to win even if he or she has already won enough states by Feb. 9 to have the nomination sewn up.

Or maybe the Obama campaign is starting to seriously plan for a scenario in which Washington matters to their nomination fight—a scenario that would be far from the campaign’s fondest hopes.

Howie P.S. I hope this doesn't refer to the "grassroots" volunteer office opening soon in Pioneer Square though it implies that campaign is opening an "official" field office before the Iowa caucuses, rather than afterwards as I was told.

Barack Obama