[Editor's Note: Lots of reporting by Erica C. Barnett and some by Josh Feit.]

1. According to today's NYT , seven fiscally conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats on the House commerce committee are the key to passing or torpedoing President Obama's health care reform bill.

However, according to us, one flaming liberal on the commerce committee, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA, 1)—who's writing a series of cost-containment amendments to incentivize less expensive treatment and one amendment to equalize medicare reimbursements regionally—is the key to winning over the Blue Dogs.

If Rep. Inslee can sell his progressive ideas as remedies for ballooning costs to the conservative Democrats—replacing fee-for-service profits with result-oriented programs, for example—President Obama will have the Blue Dogs in his corner.

Pay attention to the action in this committee this week where mark up was already postponed one day.

2. The Cascade Bicycle Club might want to reconsider its endorsement of City Council candidate and former King County Prosecutor's Office civil division head, Sally Bagshaw. (The Club chose Bagshaw over her main rival, lefty church activist David Bloom.)

The CBC tells us they weren't impressed with Bloom because he "spends too much time listening to folks who think preserving auto capacity is a social justice issue, rather than a burden for disadvantaged communities." But they should check Bagshaw's contributors list.

According to campaign finance reports , Paul Nerdrum, the general manager of the Salmon Bay Sand & Gravel Co., has maxed out to Bagshaw. Salmon Bay Sand & Gravel is the company that's suing the city to stop work to complete the Burke-Gilman commuter bike trail. They want to preserve the segment for cement and oil trucks.

3. "It's slap in the face" from Mayor Nickels, according to a community organizer quoted in the The Rainier Valley Post. Previously committed to attend tonight's Southeast Seattle Candidates' Forum, Nickels canceled just 24-hours before the event, citing a scheduling conflict according to the RVP report .



One Southender quipped in an email to PubliCola: "Does he [Nickels] think light rail was enough to lock up any potential south end votes?  Or worried he'd get skewered?"

4. And here's some more anti-Nickels griping: A crew (that appears to be Mike McGinn supporters ), like landscape architect Brice Maryman and  compatriots like urbanist blogger Dan Bertolet (Hugeasscity ), have put their names on an anti-deep-bore tunnel website: Tunnelfacts.com .

Mayor Nickels, of course, is the leading advocate of the $4.2 billion freeway tunnel along the waterfront, which Tunnelfacts.com claims (among other problems) will be unable to accommodate mass transit.

5. Pike Place Express—a batch of about a dozen Pike Place Market fresh-produce vendors, including Full Circle Farm —has been up and running at City Hall Plaza (on 4th Ave. between James and Cherry) since June. The satellite farmers market for the Southend of downtown (where about 1500 people work) sets up shop every Tuesday through September.



Pike Place Express at City Hall, photo by Erica C. Barnett

6. For Serious Wonks Only : At its 9 am meeting today, the City Council's land use and neighborhoods committee will hear 22 proposed amendments to the city's Comprehensive Plan—the city's master land use document that was originally passed in 1994 in accordance with the state Growth Management Act.

One of our favorite proposed amendments (honestly): An amendment from controversial neighborhood activist Chris Leman "discouraging extra-heavy transit buses and solid waste trucks that unacceptably damage Seattle's roads and bridges."

This morning's Morning Fizz brought to you by Candidate Survivor .