Thanks to Chris Kissel for filing the reports from DC today. Not only is Kissel keeping us up to speed on the stimulus news, but he's also been picking up the slack while I've been off chasing a tip about Gov. Chris Gregoire and sate Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Lisa Brown (D-3, Spokane), getting into a fight  about the budget .

"I wouldn't characterize our meeting that way,"  Sen. Brown laughed when I told her I'd heard there'd been a tense exchange between the two and that Governor Gregoire left in a huff.  

Sen. Brown gave PubliCola an exclusive interview today to talk about the budget and her meeting with the governor; and answer my  questions about the MVET, her rumored gubernatorial ambitions,  I-937, and field this query: Given that the dramatic budget shortfall is a better check on the Democratic majority than any increase in GOP numbers could ever be, how are the Democrats going to make good on the Democratic agenda that Washington voters said they favored last November?

In short: How are Democrats  going to let voters know there's still a Democratic majority in Olympia?"

State Senate Majority Leader Sen. Lisa Brown (D-3, Spokane) meets with PubliCola.

I will post a full report on the interview tomorrow. Stay tuned. 

PS: I haven't forgotten this morning's promise that SportsNerd would debut today. Watch for it later this afternoon. Sorry for the delay. In the meantime check out Monday's TechNerd about Amazon.com and yesterday's FoodNerd  about maintaining your instant karma.