Does this mean it's over? No, but it sure helps:

State GOP overwhelmingly backs I-695 Initiative's sponsor calls 85 percent favorable vote 'devastating to the opposition' The Associated Press SPOKANE - The Republican Party State Committee overwhelmingly passed a resolution Saturday endorsing Initiative 695, despite threats by Boeing and other leading corporations to withhold financial support for the party if it did so. The vote is "very helpful to the initiative, but it is devastating to the opposition ... because they said they would have a politically united front against the thing," said sponsor Tim Eyman, a small-businessman from Mukilteo. "They can't say that now."

-- Gary Henriksen (henrik@harbornet.com), September 19, 1999

Answers

As the Church says, "Even a deathbed conversion is better than losing a soul for all eternity." Yeah, well maybe. The Republican party spent an awful long time with a wet finger in the air deciding which way the wind was blowing before coming on board with I-695.

I think the difference between a Republican politician and a Democrat politician is about the same as the difference between the Republican and Democrat state budget proposals this year, 2%. That doesn't mean you don't appreciate the 2% difference, but it's really difficult to get excited about it.

-- Craig Carson (craigcar@crosswinds.net), September 20, 1999.