But voter unrest does not by itself portend wholesale electoral change. Even disgruntled Americans are reluctant to "fire" incumbents if they think they're just trading in one pol for another, regardless of party. That's the lesson of 1994.

He's got a warning for his friends, too.

Today my former colleagues seem tired, conflicted and defensive about holding their majority in the face of huge budget deficits, an unpopular and difficult war, and the inefficiencies that come with a bigger government bureaucracy — all at a time when a few Republican and Democratic members face their own ethical issues.

That man was Al Canwell, a former state representative from north Spokane who once held sway in the Legislature the way Joe McCarthy bullied the U.S. Senate. During his single two-year term, Canwell's Joint Legislative Committee on Un-American Activities hunted the "Red Menace" in Washington state, from the state Pension Board to theater groups in Seattle to the University of Washington.

Any one interested in politics in Washington should know the story of Albert Canwell. You can read his oral history done by the Washington State Oral History Project. You get a little different view of the man, of course, from what others say about him. There's quite a bit in the oral history of former Senate Majority Leader R.R. "Bob" Greive with other mentions in other histories published by the state. If it's not clear, I am a fan of the program and find the oral histories to be candid and a great way to learn about the personalities that people still talk about around the Capitol. The best is the Ray Moore history, particularly the appendix where he gives his uncensored take on a long list of political figures. I wrote about it when it was published in 1999 and you can find the good parts there.