Stories for Aug. 5, 2008

Why Sen. Barack Obama's campaign has lost traction

Tue, Aug 5, 5 p.m.

By Ted Van Dyk

Once regarded as an overwhelming favorite, the Democrat has been sucked into day-to-day campaign sparring and forced to prove himself in Sen. John McCain's comfort zone of foreign policy and security. Here's what Obama needs to do to turn it around, starting with a focus on his turf — economics and other domestic issues.

In the garden: your pain about Spain cured on the main

Tue, Aug 5, 4 p.m.

By Geri Larkin

Let's just say you are sitting at one of the Starbucks still standing, staring into a cup of stunningly delicious coffee, wishing you were headed somewhere like southern Spain to take a class on, okay, anything. Medicinal herbs is your top choice, but even miniature golf-putting techniques fits the fantasy. Those huge cerulean blue skies. Those plateaus. Those high deserts. Those plants. And let's just say that there isn't a snowball's chance in the Sahara that you are going to Spain, maybe ever. A VISA bill that grows all by itself, combined with ever-growing travel costs, are the marks of a trip that will not happen.

Tallis in Seattle

Tue, Aug 5, 3 p.m.

By Tom Luce

A not well-publicized but well-done chamber music concert featured Britain's Tallis Scholars.

Sausage Links, debating the polls edition

Tue, Aug 5, noon

By Clark Fredricksen

Washington state pollster Stuart Elway unveiled his latest poll — and it's a doozy. Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire is crushing GOP challenger Dino Rossi by 16 points. A SurveyUSA poll taken last week, however, showed Gregoire only up 49 percent to 46 percent – a pretty big discrepancy. Either way, voters will get a chance to refine their choices in coming months, as the two gubernatorial candidates agreed yesterday to debate at least three times before the Nov. 4 general election. So far, the debates would be in Seattle, Yakima, and Spokane. ...

In Everett, history is now history

Tue, Aug 5, 5 a.m.

By Pete Jackson

For decades my mother ritually pulled out the Everett Herald sports page, folded it into squares, and inserted it neatly under the cat pan.

Go eastward, young Americans

Tue, Aug 5, 4 a.m.

By David Brewster

There's a reverse flow of population in the West, drifting from expensive coastal cities to interior boomtowns. It's definitely changing the politics of the Rockies, while also stirring resentments at "Aspenization."

Travels with Charley and GPS

Tue, Aug 5, midnight

By Knute Berger

A Depression-era book series is the ultimate road-trip must-have, a way of comparing past and present as you tool around the country like a latter-day John Steinbeck. And in Washington, a new version even links travelers to the digital age.