'The constipated lineup of politicians waiting to move up in Washington is going to remain'

Governor Jay Inslee's decision to drop his presidential ambitions and seek a third term as governor is having a domino effect on state politics.

Joni Balter, host of Civic Cocktail on the Seattle Channel, and Q13 political analyst C.R. Douglas talked with KUOW’s Angela King about it all.

Joni Balter: This was always an uphill battle for him — unknown governor with a single message.

Inslee cares deeply about climate change. That can be a downer message, yet in his own upbeat way he took his pleas for climate action to the nation — an issue on which I might say the current president is doing a lousy job.

He made climate change the message, bigger than himself.

Angela King: Climate change is a big issue with voters — it's polled very high in terms of voter issues, so why didn't it take off this time?

C.R. Douglas: Well it didn't work out because most presidential bids don't work out. It's the biggest longshot. The surprise is when they do work, not when they don't.

Inslee’s climate message had some problems. People say it's a priority, but they don't behave and vote that way. And in this year's contest it seems only two real messages are working. You have that progressive leftism of Sanders and Warren and then you have this kind of tried and true known quantity, Biden. Otherwise other people and messages aren't really consistently working this year.

Joni Balter: I thought the topic was fine but the messenger couldn't break through.

Angela King: Yesterday Inslee said he’s going to run for governor again.

Here’s what he said: “Yes, yes, that's my intention and that's what I would do because I believe in the state.”

The word I keyed in on there was “my intention.”

Balter: He left himself plenty of room to make whatever decision he needs to make when he needs to make it.

Excuse the phrasing, but the constipated lineup of politicians waiting to move up in Washington is going to remain, so for at least a year and a half. That's how long it would take for a Democrat to be elected president and to name someone like Jay Inslee to the cabinet.