Permit me some pessimism. I don't want The Boeing Co. to put its second 787 assembly line in South Carolina any more than anyone else does around here. But so far, the company is taking all the steps it needs to do that.

On June 21, it was reported in Aviation Week that Boeing would probably put the second line in Charleston.

On July 1, it was reported that Boeing had bought Vought Aircraft Industries' plant in Charleston. S.C. If expanded and upgraded, the plant could be used for final assembly.

By August, Boeing was saying that it would make a decision on the second assembly line by the end of this year, and that Everett could help its chances vis-a-vis Charleston and unnamed other places if the company had a no-strike deal with the International Association of Machinists. The IAM, put on the spot in public about the idea, was cool to it. The IAM reminded the public that it has a contract with Boeing until September 2012.

About this time a worker at the Charleston plant filed a petition for a vote to throw out the union there.

On Aug. 27 it was reported that Boeing had asked South Carolina's secretary of commerce for help in getting all the permits it would need to have an assembly plant at North Charleston.

On Sept 1, Boeing replaced the head of its Commercial Airplanes unit, Scott Carson, with Jim Albaugh. What that means is not obvious, but it is, at minimum, not a sign of continuity.

Today, Sept. 10, the workers at Boeing's Charleston plant voted 75%-25% to decertify the Machinists and become union-free. Take that as a big, fat invitation to the Boeing CEO and board in Chicago to put the plant in South Carolina.

Boeing has not announced a decision. But each one of these steps makes it less likely the company will choose Everett.