Now, thanks to Bob Apple, there are four Democrats – Apple, Marcus Riccelli, Jon Snyder, and John Waite, competing in the primary, and only one Republican.

Since it’s a top two primary, theoretically, two Democrats could be in the general election. But expect a lot of vote splitting: They’ll be competing for the same Democratic voters.

That means usually routine things like endorsements – and behind-the-scenes politicking -- may matter even more.

Recently, 3rd district Democratic candidate John Waite expressed his frustration that some organizations, like AFL-CIO’s Washington State Labor Council, have already made endorsements.

“They [shouldn’t] be making these decisions for at least a couple of weeks before they know who’s running,” Waite says. “It’s elite kingmaking in my book.”

Riccelli credits his personal connections and his speed. With his announcement on a Thursday and the Washington State Labor Council convention on a Saturday, he had to work fast.

“They endorsed me on the floor, which is not the normal process,” Riccelli says.

Later comes endorsements of local political parties like the Spokane County Democrats. That’s even more complicated: First the candidate has to ask for an endorsement, says Kris Cejka, chair of the Spokane County Democrats. Then they fill out a bio and a questionnaire and send it to the endorsement committee, which certifies that the candidate is actually a Democrat. The Spokane County Democrat’s executive board makes a recommendation, and the greater Spokane County Democrat body then votes on the endorsement.

Notably, they may endorse more than one candidate.

“If there’s more than one that’s appropriate we would endorse more than one,” Cejka says. “In the past that didn’t always happen, but that’s what we’re doing now.”

Two years ago, Spokane County Democrats endorsed Clyde Cordero over Daryl Romeyn in the primary to take on Cathy McMorris Rodgers. But Romeyn won the primary.

“We’ve had a reevaluation of past policies,” Cejka says vaguely. “Several different things had happened — I’m not going to go there.”

Cejka doesn’t expect the endorsements to be made for a couple months.

But despite the fact that Waite’s complained about Riccelli’s endorsements, he hasn’t yet applied for the Spokane County Democrat’s endorsement. Part of that is that Waite hasn’t officially filed yet. He’s been waiting to see how the rest of the race shakes out before fully committing.

Now Bob Apple’s in the race, a candidate that, like Waite, doesn’t fit easily in the “Democrat” box.

“I think that makes it harder on me, but it doesn’t define my decision yet,” Waite says. “I have a lot of people who want me in.”

When Washington Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown announced her retirement yesterday, political hopefuls quickly began filling the vacuum. Rep. Andy Billig declared that he'd be running for Brown's seat. Brown's senior aide, Marcus Riccelli, announced he'd be running for Billig's seat. And Spokane City Councilman Jon Snyder announced he'd be announcing something about Billig's seat today.

While we haven't heard anything yet from Snyder, two others havejumped into the race for Billig's seat. John Waite. Waite, a frequent local candidate, was seen last year running for Bob Apple's City Council seat. Tim Benn, an advocate for government regulations reform also announced his candidacy. 

Keep your eye on City Hall Eyeball for more updates. 

It's perhaps not surprising that Daryl Romeyn, the former Spokane weatherman, hedges his forecast slightly when asked about whether he'll run for Mark Richard's vacant County Commissioner seat. 

"It looks like I’m going to be doing County Commissioner," he says, but he qualifies it by saying he's that the "90-percent" level. He reckons he'll put a press release together soon. 

In 2010, Romeyn surprised local Democrats by beating their pick -- Clyde Cordero -- in the primary for a U.S. House of Representatives spot. He went up against incumbent Cathy McMorris Rogers. but she won with about 64 percent of the vote.

For the past two years, Romeyn has been considering running against her again. But his plan -- to build up name recognition in the meantime -- hasn't panned out, he says. Now Rich Cowan, the creator of North by Northwest productions, is running against McMorris Rodgers, and Romeyn is heavily leaning toward competing for County Commissioner. 

He's a bit disappointed, he says, that Richard isn't running. While Richard was the incumbent, he says, he also had a record that Romeyn was looking forward to criticizing.  

"I’ve seen my property taxes go up probably 40 to 50 percent," Romeyn says. He also says his experience as a weatherman will give him insight into how to save money on road construction and maintenance. 

Ironically, if Romeyn and John Roskelley are the two Democratic competitors, that means that we'll have a race where both Democrats are criticizing the Republican status quo by calling for lower taxes and more fiscal responsibility. 

Meanwhile, State Rep. Matt Shea, another name mentioned in speculation over who would run for commissioner, has announce he'll seek a third term in his current job instead. 

Spokane County Commissioner Mark Richard says he never wanted to become a career politician.

And so, today, at a press conference near the county courthouse, beside his wife and a dozen county workers, he announced that he will not run for a third term this fall.

Richard says he just made the decision recently but has been considering it for the past few months.

He says he has been proud of the strides the county has made in the last eight years — serving youth, prisoners, and moving toward more respectful city-county collaboration.

“Today we see civility, respect, and dignity,” he says.

While serving on the board of county commissioners beside the conservative Todd Mielke and the more liberal Bonnie Mager several years ago, Richard served as a swing vote on several issues, including the expensive purchase of the Spokane County Raceway and the decision to use conservation futures funds to buy the YMCA building.

He regrets neither decision. In fact, at the press conference he lambasted the media for how he feels they unfairly portrayed the racetrack issue.

That’s not to say he doesn’t regret a vote or two. He believes that he voted to improperly rezone some light industrial areas in the West Plains as commercial. As a result, the nearby Fairchild Air Force Base is facing encroachment issues.

More recently, Richard was the lone voice of skepticism over placing a measure to fund a regional animal control facility on the ballot this fall. Indeed, the measure failed to get the required number of votes.

“I don’t think I’ve ever stood up and said, ‘Neener, neener,'" Richard says, when asked if he feels vindicated on the issue. Now, he says he’s pleased at the new direction for animal control, which may allow the county to be able to build a new facility without paying any taxpayer funds.

No, he isn’t sure what he wants to do next — but it isn’t to run for a political seat. He’s had several conversations — and heard rumors — about who may be vying to replace him in November (Commissioner Todd Mielke's seat is also up for grabs), but he won’t elaborate on those names. And will he endorse any of those candidates?

“I may, if the right candidate comes along,” Richard says.

What the Spokane City Council won't vote against, perhaps the U.S. Senate will.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) co-sponsored a bill introduced on the Senate floor today to require anyone or anything that spends more than $10,000 on an election to file a report detailing each expenditure over $1,000.

Murray says the DISCLOSE Act of 2012, proposed by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), would "address problems created by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision." 

"No voice should be more powerful in Washington state’s elections than the voices of our state’s voters," Murray says in a statement. "I’m proud to support this effort to protect our democratic process and put power back in the hands of the people and grassroots activism.” 

The 2010 Citizens United Supreme Courts decision allows for unlimited donations to political action committees.

The Spokane City Council last week voted against endorsing a resolution to overturn the decision. 

The Spokane City Council's gonna amend the U.S. Constitution. 

Well, it's gonna try. 

The council tonight will debate a resolution declaring that wads of money isn't free speech, despite what the U.S. Supreme Court said in its Citizen United decision.

Councilwoman Amber Waldref, who drafted the resolution, says it likely won't pass. But she wanted the issue to be discussed anyway.

"To me it seems like they have more speech than the individual American person," Waldref says, referring to special interests. 

The Citizens United decision allows corporations, unions and any other special interest groups to spend whatever they want to help elect or defeat political candidates. The Citizens United decision is also one of two rulings responsible for the rise of Super-PACs. That means it's also responsible for the handful of rich guys who've kept the presidential campaigns of Rick Santourm and Newt Gingrich running. 

Though to be perfectly honest, if Gingrich could build the moon colony with Super-PAC money, that would be pretty sweet.

For more City Hall Eyeball, visit our moon colony.

HERE

Across the border in Idaho, that Ron Paul surge some suspected didn't pan out. Romney took more than 60 percent of the vote. Here's how it went, county by county. 

In local basketball news, Eastern lost in the Big Sky Conference semi finals to Montana.

Red Lion's largest shareholder is asking the locally based hotelier to sell off some hotels.

THERE

The Colts kick Peyton Manning to the curb. But hey, they did pay him $26 million for not playing last year. Could the Seahawks be in the running to pick him up?

You need this, says your technological masters at Apple. 

Super Tuesday is over, but the GOP primaries are not.

Romney is ahead in delegates, but is hardly pulling away. Maybe he needs to let the dogs out?

HERE

Two people were injured in a shooting last night in the East Central area of Spokane last night. Could be gang activity. (KXLY)

Down at the WCC basketball championships in Las Vegas yesterday, the Gonzaga men lost a nail-biting, heart stopping thriller. The women got thumped. Both will likely be in the NCAA tournament.

Downtown Spokane's LGBT-friendly nightclub, Hollyrock, has closed its doors. 

THERE

Happy Super Tuesday, everyone. This year, even Idaho is getting in on the superiority, as are nine other states.

The lady that won that enormous $336-billion Powerball prize is 81 freaking years old!

Where everyone agrees: We really need to talk about this whole Iran thing. Everyone doesn't agree: What we should do about this Iran thing.

HERE

In case you missed it, Mitt Romney won the Washington caucuses. Check out the county-by-county results. Spokane County seems to like Santorum. (Spokesman)

Down in Las Vegas, Gonzaga's men and women teams are playing for automatic NCAA bids. (Slipperstillfits.com)

Hope you enjoyed that fake spring yesterday. Winter is back. (KHQ)

THERE

More advertisers are bailing from Rush Limbaugh's radio show after his half-assed apology for being, well, Rush Limbaugh.

Tomorrow is not just any ol' Tuesday. It's Super Tuesday! But don't expect this primary to wind down come Wednesday. 

Off-season football news. Turns out football players are rewarded for violence. Who knew?

This didn't fit anywhere in our coverage this week. But I'll explode if I don't let it out of my system.

Former House Speaker and future moon colonizer Newt Gingrich stumped Thursday in Spokane. But we were stumped (ha!) that he didn't mention his plan to establish a permanent base on the moon. Before the speech, I called up John Logsdon, professor emeritus at George Washington University's Space Policy Institute.

Gingrich's proposal "doesn't really pass the giggle test," Logsdon says.

"What Gingrich did was take a reasonable idea and make it unreasonable," he says. "At its root, it's not crazy."

Then why the celestial wet blanket, Mr. Professor?

It took $155 billion in 2011 dollars to get us to the moon during the Apollo program in the 1960s, Logsdon says. And while a base of eight or nine people might be sustainable, it isn't feasible for Gingrich's dream of 13,000 moon pioneers. 

But Logsdon says doing permanent research could pay scientific dividends. Like extracting oxygen to use as rocket fuel for deep space voyages. Or harvesting helium isotopes that could fuel a fusion reactor. Which, he admits, hasn't yet been invented.

Also, there may be water on the dark side of the moon that could be used to help support a lunar outpost, says Logsdon. But since we haven't done much actual scientific research, we won't know. 

Until, that is, we elect:

NEWT GINGRICH: MOON PRESIDENT