"Bill Clinton is out; Hillary is coming to Seattle"

Joel Connelly (Strange Bedfellows, Seattle P-I political blog):

Sen. Hillary Clinton will campaign in Seattle on Thursday night, in an 11th hour substitution for what had been a planned stopover by ex-President Bill Clinton.

The switch indicates the Clinton campaign is serious about contesting Washington's Democratic caucuses on Saturday, Feb. 9th.

Sen. Clinton is tentatively scheduled to appear Thursday, from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Pier 30 on the Seattle waterfront.

Instead of coming to a temperate, rainy Seattle, ex-President Clinton will campaign for his wife in Maine.

The former president has been under attack from liberal commentators for his harsh, negative attacks on Sen. Barack Obama during the Nevada caucuses and South Carolina primary. He was assigned a much lower "SuperDuper Tuesday" role, campaigning in Arkansas and Tennessee, and visiting churches in California.

Sen. Clinton was here last October, speaking to a Democratic Party fundraiser and holding three $2,300-a-person fundraisers.

The Clintons have used Washington as a kind of political ATM machine in recent years. It has been years since they have held a free public appearance in Washington State.

Sen. Barack Obama is scheduled to appear in Seattle on Friday.