1. At a GOP press conference in Olympia yesterday afternoon, Republian Senate Leader Sen. Mike Hewitt (R-16, Walla Walla) took up Gov. Chris Gregoire's rhetorical challenge.  “To my friends on the other side of the aisle," Gregoire said on March 12 when she called for a special session to finish the budget, "I say explain to me how any state has done a better job than Washington state.”

Hewitt's choice? New Jersey. He explained that Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came to office eight weeks ago facing a $2.2 billion deficit for 2010 alone, and announced cuts of $13 billion in spending. That’s $1.6 billion per week; $232 million a day; $9 million an hour.

To be sure, the man wields a heavy budget axe: He plans to cut New Jersey’s education system but about $819 million, or five percent across the board. That’s in addition to the $475 million he’s already cut this fiscal year.

The ironic part is that Christie’s proposal reads like  Gregoire’s very own all-cuts budget. Remember that thing ?

And that brings us to the  problem with Hewitt's theory. New Jersey' Legislature, where the Democrats have a majority in both houses, hasn’t taken up Christie’s proposal yet.



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3. The new, online-only P-I is having its much hyped 1-year anniversary tonight—a shindig at the Crocodile in Belltown. But tomorrow night, former print P-I staffers are having a get together of their own, dubbed a "celebration/commiseration of  post-Post-Intelligencer life" in an email that went out inviting people to drinks at a local bar. (We're not saying where it is because it's a private affaire.) The invite also says that the co-owner of the bar—a former P-I writer—is extending happy hour prices until 8 pm.