It's pay or play for state Democrats

Ok, it's official. State Democratic Party insiders don't give a damn about ensuring Washington's unique assets, and challenges are on the radar of presidential candidates.

So, it's time for elected Democratic leaders — specifically, state Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and state Speaker of the House Frank Chopp — to make sure the 2008 presidential primary will count for something. That means setting the presidential primary early enough to put Washington in play for the attention of presidential candidates — a date early in February. Saturday, the Washington State Democrats convened in Bellingham and decided it would continue to ignore the results of the state's presidential primary. Party operatives voted 119-42 in favor of using sparsely attended meetings only — or caucuses — to decide how their delegates to the national convention will be allocated. For comparison, 1.3 million Washington voters cast ballots in the 2000 presidential primary, while only 60,000 attended partisan caucuses.

Even though the Democrats didn't use the 2000 primary results, several candidates came here anyway, taking tours and making appearances. In contrast, the state Republican Party has used each primary to allocate some of its delegates.

Chopp and Brown, as elected Democrats, have a broader responsibility to citizens than party strategists. They passed a state budget allocating $9 million to stage a presidential primary; Gov. Chris Gregoire signed it. While both Chopp and Gregoire said they wanted their party to count the results, neither lobbied for, nor did more than pay lip service to, the idea.

Later this month, Secretary of State Sam Reed will reconvene the committee to set the presidential primary date. Last month, the panel met but could not settle on a date. Chopp's representative and Brown joined two state party representatives to disingenuously seek a March 19 date — long after each party's presidential candidate is likely to emerge. The Republicans pushed for Feb. 5, which is shaping up to be a multistate primary date.

Since the Democratic Party is refusing to use the results, its operatives should butt out of any discussion of the primary date. They should let the Republicans pick the date they want — and Brown and Chopp, who are voting members of the state panel, should make sure they get it.