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FILE - Rodney Tom, a Democrat in the Washington State Senate, speaks in a capitol press conference Dec. 10, 2012. A number of senate republicans including Mark Schoesler (left) and two democrats (Rodney Tom and Tim Sheldon, second from left) announced the creation of a new majority coalition, depriving the Democratic Caucus a ruling majority. Other republicans present include Ann Rivers (right). (Peter Haley / Staff photographer)

PETER HALEY THE NEWS TRIBUNE

Democratic state Sen. Tim Sheldon will soon find out what voters in his independent-minded 35th District think of his move last year to join Republicans and one other Democrat to seize control of the state Senate.

The longtime maverick from Mason County who helped form the Majority Coalition Caucus has already drawn challengers from both major parties. They include Democrat Irene Bowling, a music teacher from Bremerton, and self-described libertarian Republican Travis Couture, a Navy veteran from Belfair.

Both challengers are new to electoral politics and say the incumbents 24 years in the Legislature is enough. Neither is impressed that Sheldon joined a coalition that produced bipartisan budgets, which in Bowlings view also led to blockage of Democratic priorities.

Left high-centered this year were Gov. Jay Inslees proposed $200 million boost in investments in K-12 schools to answer a state Supreme Court ruling; proposals to close as many as seven tax breaks, including one for oil refineries; and legislation that would have required coverage of abortion in health insurance plans that cover pregnancy.

The Senate needs help from Democrats. The transportation budget wasnt passed, the education budget wasnt passed, the capital budget wasnt passed, Bowling said after holding a kickoff event near Olympia last weekend.

Sheldon said he thinks voters like his approach.

My opponent may criticize the coalition, but we passed budgets by 44-to-4 and 48-to-1 in the Senate. Thats amazing, Sheldon said. I think Ill do well because the voters know me and I try to represent everyone.

Couture, who works at the naval shipyard at Bangor in Kitsap County, said Sheldon and the Republican-dominated majority coalition didnt put up enough of a fight against expanding Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act in 2013.

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Swing Democrat faces challenges from both sides

LANSING, MI -- Detroit civil rights attorney Godfrey Dillard is running for Michigan Attorney General.

Dillard announced his candidacy Thursday afternoon, setting up a showdown with fellow Democrat Mark Totten at the party's nominating convention in August.

The nominee would take on Republican incumbent Attorney General Bill Schuette in November.

Totten announced his candidacy back in June of 2013 and has spent nearly a year on the campaign trail, but Dillard's experience and name recognition in Southeast Michigan make him an instant contender for the nomination.

Dillard, speaking with MLive on Thursday, said he was inspired to enter the race because of Schuette's positions on various cultural and social issues. The attorney general should have fought parts of the state's emergency manager law, Dillard argued, but not challenged federal rulings striking down same-sex marriage and juvenile lifer laws.

"We need a check and balance on a Republican-dominated Legislature, governor and even the state Supreme Court," Dillard said. "We need an attorney general that's going to argue the law without partisanship."

Dillard, 65, is a Detroit native with a law degree from the University of Michigan, which he later represented in a high-profile affirmative action admission case. He worked for the Foreign Service during the Carter and Reagan administrations, tried to run for Congress in 2012 and currently teaches law at Wayne State University.

Totten is a law professor at Michigan State University who previously served as a prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney's Office in West Michigan, a clerk for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Griffith and as a staff attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Appellate Staff.

"Dillard has some very good name recognition in a a critical base for Dems, which gives him a built in advantage, but Mark Totten has been working hard and doing the rubber chicken circuit for the past year," said Lansing-based political consultant TJ Bucholz.

"Either one of them is going to have an uphill battle against Schuette. Within the Republican Party, he's one of the few elected officials who has some successful crossover with the establishment and tea party figures."

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Democrat Godfrey Dillard announces run for Michigan Attorney General

Senator Jeff Klein "...That #39;s What It Means To Be A Democrat..."

By: Adam Bermudez

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Senator Jeff Klein "...That's What It Means To Be A Democrat..." - Video

LOSING ELECTORAL COLLEGE GUARANTEES COMMUNIST DEMOCRAT RULE
Do not let them take away our electoral college. Although the electoral college is flawed, moving into a popular vote system will allow the largest cities in the country to determine the outcome...

By: grindall61

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LOSING ELECTORAL COLLEGE GUARANTEES COMMUNIST DEMOCRAT RULE - Video

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva could not attend the meeting with Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday because three intelligence sources had warned him he might be putting his life in danger.

Democrat Party deputy spokesperson Mallika Boonmeetrakool said yesterday that intelligence sources from the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), the Democrat Party and state security agencies all warned that Abhisit would not be safe if he attended the meeting, she said.

The Democrat Party has asked the caretaker government to confirm if there was indeed an "assassination" team comprised of a group from Lampang that is allegedly in town to identify the target, a group from Klong Toei and another that created a bloody scene at Ramkhamhaeng University in November last year.

"If the government is sincere, then it should check whether the group that stayed at a resort on Ram-Indra Road was the same group that had previously committed a crime and has, so far, been let off scot free," she said.

Meanwhile, red-shirt leader Lungyim Tasawang admitted that he had Phalang Prathet Thai Party leader Dachai Uchukosolkarn carrying a placard featuring the message: "To reform the country, first reform the Democrat Party and the Election Commission before elections'' at the EC-hosted meeting.

He also said that after Abhisit did not show up at the meeting, he posted a message on his Facebook saying: "The meeting has not started, waiting for Abhisit. Going to order brother Sangiem to shoot twice so they disperse and go home."

Lungyim insisted that this message was insignificant and reasoned that everybody knew that some groups would lay siege to the meeting.

"Even Banharn's group could not attend. Everybody knows that if Abhisit fails to reach an agreement with Suthep, everyone will end up being held hostage," he said.

Apart from Abhisit, Pheu Thai Party leader Charupong Ruangsuwan also did not show up at the meeting.

Meanwhile, EC member Somchai Srisutthiyakorn voiced concern over the shooting incident that took place on Tuesday morning near the Government Complex on Chaeng Wattana Road.

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Sources confirm Abhisit's life under threat: Democrats