In an ongoing feature, Slate has been profiling “swing” states for the 2004 election. Today, our very own state goes under the microscope:

Political journalists look to these [swing] states for the same reason that Romans studied the flight patterns of birds: We believe they help us divine the future. By this traditional swing-state standard, Washington state fails miserably. In every close election since 1960, the Evergreen State has backed the loser. And it’s done so in a bipartisan manner. As one of the nine states to vote for President Dukakis, Washington has shown that it can get it wrong in not-close elections, too.[slate]

The rest of the article examines why Washington might be interesting thes year, highlights competive races, reveals the new movement toward finding warm/fuzzy conservative candidates, and calls Fremont a hip district. All in all, a nice primer to get you thinking about November.