Seattle IAM: Obama First Democratic Nominee to Open Office in WA, Should Shawn Kemp’s Number be Retired?

This is a selection of recent popular blog articles from SeattleIAM where you will find the best blogs from Seattle, Washington as well as video uploads, social networking, rumors, and blog authoring

Mariners Still Looking for Starting Pitcher

Over on Lookout Landing, a Mariner’s baseball blog, Jeff analyses the Mariner’s pitcher position, having “whiffed” on Hiroki Kuroda. “The M's were banking on landing him, and now that they they've missed out they have to go to the backup plan. And this isn't an organization that excels at backup plans.” The four names left are Erik Bedard, Johan Santana, Carlos Silva, and Kyle Lohse. Seattle has no chance of landing Santana, “and since no one in his right mind wants to talk about Silva or Lohse on purpose, we're left with Bedard.”

Our blogger says it’s “tempting” to seriously consider Bedard, as he “was the best pitcher in baseball last year, and it'd be hard to beat a one-two punch of Bedard/Felix.” It’s only two players, but sometimes you can go pretty far “with an average roster topped off by two aces” Jeff says in his post. We need pitching, and a #1 starter is “the most dramatic roster upgrade you can get from any one player.” The down side is at the “bare minimum,” the Mariners would be “losing Adam Jones from the ML roster” who you’d have to replace. And if they have to give away other parts of the roster, then we're losing even more.

Obama to Set Up First Democratic Nominee Office in State

Eli Sanders at the Stranger’s Slog tells us that the State of Washington doesn’t really count much in the “process of picking a Democratic nominee, except as a place for candidates to round up big donations.” Cited as evidence is the fact that no democratic candidate has opened a campaign office in the state… until now.

Sanders states in his post that a “source” tells him Barack Obama will “become the first presidential candidate to open a field office in Washington State.” Asking what this means, he posits that perhaps “it’s the Obama campaign’s way of getting a jump on organizing for the Washington Democratic caucuses, which happen on Feb. 9.” Or, perhaps Obama’s campaign is seriously planning “for a scenario in which Washington matters to their nomination fight.”

Senator Cantwell Gets New Chief of Staff

According to David Postman at Postman on Politics, Senator Maria Cantwell is getting a new Chief of Staff. Her current chief of staff, Michael Meehan, who was “architect of her 2006 re-election victory, will leave the job at the end of next month” to become a partner at D.C. public affairs firm Virilion. “He will also be working on his own as a political consultant, and one of his first clients could be Gov. Christine Gregoire.” Postman writes that Meehan “helped bring Cantwell from a razor-thin victory to looking like a powerhouse.”

The post announces that Cantwell's new chief of staff is Maura O'Neill, “a management consultant and a former dotcom executive with some political background and an expertise in energy issues.” O’Neill served on Seattle City Light's Energy Advisory Board and was also president of “Explore Life, a group pushing for public and private investment in a regional biotech center.”

Shawn Kemp Worth the Props

Buzzer Beater sports blogger Mike Seely asks his readers whether the Sonics Shawn Kemp’s number should be retired. “Possibly the most memorable moment of last season came when the Sonics announced their all-40th anniversary team. Getting the loudest ovation… was none other than Shawn Kemp.”

Seely writes in his post that Kemp “flushed his mind-blowing potential” when he was “dealt out of Seattle, still in his prime.” However, he “revolutionized the power forward position” during his eight years with Seattle, “all the while teaming with Payton to lead the Supes deeper into the playoffs than they'd been since their title run.” Seely also point out that if this is really to be the Sonics' last year in Seattle, “can you think of a better moving-out party than lifting #40 to the rafters?”

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