I learned a valuable lesson at Barack Obama’s February rally/revival at Key Arena–these things do not start on time, do not end on time, and do not have food or drink readily available. After nearly passing out that day, I headed to Tacoma this afternoon prepared–lots of trail mix and water. Local alt-country favorites The Maldives were playing their first orgy of hope and weren’t similarly prepared. “I’m really hungry,” guitarist and lead singer Jason Dodson tells me. I was happy to share the extra dried fruit, nuts and chocolate drops. Blood sugar back up, he tells me getting invited to play is “pretty awesome.””These are the candidates,” he says. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them. This is history, it’s like we’re history.”And there’s no denying that–if the polls are right, we’re on the brink of having our first black president, facing down a still-oh-so murky situation in the Middle East and the biggest recession since my grandparents were learning their multiplication tables. Yeah–it’s history.Which is what makes it a little weird that the two women who really need Joe Biden’s dashing smile and working-man Scranton stories didn’t have a bigger presence at Cheney (insert joke here) Stadium this afternoon. Darcy Burner is struggling in her second go at Rep. Dave Reichert’s seat. She’s seemingly the only person in America unable to capitalize on the “throw the bums out” mentality that’s catapulted Obama into the lead in states where a democratic nominee wouldn’t normally have a shot. Governor Christine Gregoire has the opposite problem–she’s hitched her wagon to Obama in a big way–a recent mailer looked like it was actually for “that one” until you got to the end and realized it was a pitch from her campaign. But that’s a tricky line to walk–sure he’s wildly popular, but he got there in part on the highly ambiguous slogan “Change We Can Believe In.” Being the incumbent, the change thing kind of sends the wrong message.Biden–flashing that charming smile of his–mentioned both the guv and Burner repeatedly, He held Gregoire’s hand at one point and talked directly to Burner, telling the crowd: “you better elect her. (He also called her “kiddo,” which I think is part of her problem) But the t-shirt above was about all I saw of signage, literature and campaign posters for either local candidate. Unless he suddenly comes out against salmon, evergreen trees and Tim Eyman (why do we love that guy?), Obama’s pretty much got a lock on the state. So in truth I’m a little surprised there wasn’t a more concerted effort by the local campaigns to make sure people were holding Gregoire and Burner signs as well. We’ll have the Gregoire and Biden speeches up tomorrow, but in case you can’t wait, assume it went: jobs, economy, jobs, education, economy, housing, boo McCain, jobs, story about Scranton, economy, Iraq, jobs, boo Palin, vote Burner/Gregoire, economy, inspiring cries of “Get up!” Loud crazy cheering.