At the end of Gov. Christine Gregoire’s kick-off bus tour, we’ll have travelled 1,000 miles, driver Gene said. Right now we’re in Everett. I’m sitting on a small platform in the back of Labor Temple with couple Chris and Gorm Lauritzen. Gregoire will take the stage shortly, but in the meantime, I learned about an unusual ritual that occurs at Lombard Ave. every Friday at 1:00.

On one side of the street anti-war protesters hold up signs and on the other side of the street pro-war people hold up signs. The two groups square off for a few hours until one breaks and goes home. This has happened for years.

“You can hear them yell ‘Chicken Liberal! Chicken Liberal! They get a real kick out of it,” Chris, a frequent participant, said.

The location of the squabble occurs on the site of the Everett Massacre, where five Wobbly soapbox speakers, who believed in direct action on the job site rather than political action through voting, were arrested and killed during the “free-speech movement.”

Gorm said Everett is a very blue-collar, industrial town. Fittingly, the theme of Gregoire’s speech is jobs.