Joel Connelly (Seattle P-I): Hillary and Bill Clinton are calling in 15 years' worth of political IOUs and asking old friends for help as they try to head off Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in Washington's Feb. 9 Democratic precinct caucuses.
"The loyalty goes back a long ways," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., noted Wednesday as she endorsed Hillary Clinton.
Murray put parameters on the endorsement, saying she was acting out of "personal loyalty and friendship." Murray, a member of the Senate Democratic leadership, will not participate in the caucuses.
She was pointed about which Clinton she is embracing.
"I told Hillary that finding her own voice was absolutely critical," she said. "My support is for Hillary and the Hillary I knew before she went to the Senate and with whom I have served in the Senate."
Asked about recent days, in which ex-President Clinton attacked Obama and overshadowed his candidate wife, Murray posed a question asked by many Democrats across the country: "Who controls him?"
Gov. Chris Gregoire said she will endorse a candidate next week before the caucuses. Two close colleagues, Govs. Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, have come out for Obama.
Gregoire was not tipping her hand, but acknowledged that the Obama-Clinton choice is much tougher than she expected.
"I will admit to you that I have vacillated," the governor said. "Where I was two months ago is not where I am today. I love the message of hope that he sends. But I really admire her experience."
Asked who is lobbying her, Gregoire replied: "Oh boy! Bill Clinton is trying to connect with me. Obama is trying to get hold of me." She has heard Clinton pitches from ex-Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Townsend.
Gregoire gave a succinct answer to why she is being courted. "I think this state is absolutely in play," she said.
Withdrawal by John Edwards on Wednesday reduced the Democratic field to a two-person choice, pitting the first African-American to mount a viable bid for the presidency against the first woman with a clear shot at the White House.
"With Edwards out, my choice is Obama," Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin said after a breakfast with Madrona neighbors.
The Democrats' 2004 presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., will campaign Friday in Seattle for Obama.
And Obama is coming back to the Northwest on Saturday. He will rally Democrats in Idaho, one of the nation's "reddest" states. Idaho holds its presidential caucuses on Super Tuesday.
Obama has been in the Seattle area four times. He drew big crowds to 2006 events at Garfield High School and Bellevue Community College, and packed Benaroya Hall for a lecture on his book "The Audacity of Hope."
The two visits of Obama's presidential campaign have combined inexpensive events -- a rally and a rock concert -- with pricey private fundraisers.
The Clintons have adopted a pay-per-view policy since the last big Pike Place Market rally of the 1996 presidential campaign. Bill Clinton has hawked books. He has collected $100,000-plus speaking fees in British Columbia. He has solicited local billionaires to help launch his foundation.
Hillary Clinton talked at a state Democrats awards ceremony in October, but squeezed no fewer than three private $2,300-a-person fundraisers into a 15-hour visit. She raised money for Sen. Maria Cantwell's 2006 re-election, but also took in $100,000 at a reception for her own Senate campaign.
The Clintons have done favors for which they can call in chits.
Cantwell, who endorsed Hillary Clinton early this month, has cited the Clintons' help in retiring her 2000 campaign debt. Bill Clinton raised $330,000 in a Seattle visit. Hillary Clinton opened her Embassy Row mansion in Washington, D.C., for a Cantwell fundraiser.
Hillary Clinton did a 1998 fundraiser for House candidate Jay Inslee at Dale Chihuly's glass sculpture studio. Bill Clinton wrote the foreword to Inslee's recent book "Apollo's Fire."
Inslee is a co-chairman of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in Washington.
Both Clintons campaigned here for Cantwell in 2006. Bill Clinton did a fundraiser to benefit Rep. Jim McDermott's legal defense fund. McDermott fought a decadelong legal battle with Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, over the leak of an illegally taped conversation between House Republican leaders.
Hillary Clinton has been soliciting McDermott's support in a battle for the hearts and minds of Seattle liberals.
She has twice been the keynote speaker at Murray's annual Golden Tennis Shoes awards ceremony and fundraising lunch.
Murray praised Clinton's "steeliness and courage" in the face of a hostile crowd turned out by right-wing radio hosts in 1994 when the first lady launched a "Health Care Caravan" in Seattle.
The health care rally was one of two jolts that Clinton has experienced in coming to Seattle. The other was a mild earthquake that shook Seattle shortly before one of Murray's luncheons.
A joke ran across the ballroom, namely that the phrase "The earth moved!" was usually associated with Bill Clinton.
ENDORSEMENTS
Prominent Washingtonians who have endorsed presidential candidates in the '08 race:
Hillary Clinton: Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell; King County Executive Ron Sims; Rep. Jay Inslee; former Gov. Gary Locke.
Barack Obama: Rep. Adam Smith; Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin; former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice.
John McCain: Attorney General Rob McKenna; former Gov. Dan Evans; former Sen. Slade Gorton.
Barack Obama
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