Grr!!! This makes me mad as this is exactly how we lost Slade Gorton to Maria-Can’t-Vote-Well. Some never to be remembered again Losertarian siphoned off Slade’s margin of victory (only 20 or 30K) and now we’ve had nearly two terms of Senatorial flatulence as a result. Slade wasn’t perfect, but he was a solid conservative. This was a big-big deal back in 2000 as it resulted in the 50/50 Senate split that hamstrung GWB’s first term, legislatively speaking, and now we’re going to pay again because the Bush tax cuts that would have been permanent with 51 Republican Senators are going to expire at the end of the year.