This morning, in one of those smart-alecky things reporters write, I said that you'd know that Dino Rossi's non-profit foundation was taking off when you see goats on the side of the freeway. And now, the day not even over, an attentive reader sends along this headline from the Federal Way News:

Goats clear a path

Ralph Thomas had a story in yesterday’s paper detailing what Dino Rossi did in the three years between losing the 2004 governor’s race and his official entry into this year’s rematch with Chris Gregoire.

It turns out that losing the ’04 race wasn’t all bad for Rossi. Connections he made during the campaign helped him boost his real estate investments and get him a piece of the Everett AquaSox minor league baseball team. Said Rossi:

"There's no doubt that I got to meet people I wouldn't have met if I didn't run for governor."

The story also looks at Forward Washington, the non-profit group Rossi founded and led during the time he wasn’t running for governor. Democrats filed a complaint with the Public Disclosure Commission claiming the group was just a front for Rossi’s ’08 campaign. Thomas writes:

The state Public Disclosure Commission has gone live with a new searchable database of campaign fundraising and spending. It makes huge improvements on the previous site, which was packed with good information but not always intuitive to use.

Eric Earling at Sound Politics says it's "crack for political junkies." True enough. But I'd say the site will be considered a real success if even those who don't consider themselves junkies can navigate it and learn something about who is giving and who is getting the big bucks this year.

If you've never used the PDC site before I urge you to go try it. And let me know what interesting things you find.