Gregoire's Katrina?

Hardly.

Puget Sound residents have gone five days without electricity as the State of Washington struggles to get back to normal. If this had been the federal government responding and not a Democratic governor, this would've been splashed across USA Today, the NY Times and WaPo as Bush's fault. Instead, it gets second billing behind Christine Gregoire's enormous spending increases:

Gregoire's 2007-09 general-fund budget of nearly $30 billion would add nearly 3,800 new state jobs; spend about $1 billion on pay raises for teachers and state workers, $343 million for public schools and $110 million for health-care programs; and put millions more into state parks, higher education and early learning.

It also would burn through most of a projected $1.9 billion budget surplus and possibly set the state up for a shortfall of more than $600 million when lawmakers have to put together a new budget in 2009.

"These are good times, these are exciting times. Now is the time to make the investments in the future," Gregoire said. "If we fail to make the investments ... then the future can say, 'Shame on us.' We had the opportunity and passed it up."

Tax and spend, baby. Tax and spend. It's pure liberal porn to read those three paragraphs.

Maybe she can throw a few bones toward Puget Sound so the good folks there can keep warm and maybe eat a good home-cooked meal.