Today is Halloween. Since Halloween falls on a weekday this year, it's mostly the province of dressing up in costumes at work, and trick or treating for children as night falls.

So there I was with my family at Proctor Treats in Tacoma. If you are not familiar with Proctor Treats, it's in the Proctor Business District in Tacoma's North End. Each year, the police shut down the streets, and businesses hand out candy to a continual parade of little kids in costumes. It's a lot of fun, and it's centered around the children. The Proctor District also sponsors the Junior Daffodil parade in the spring, and generally organizes events around children.

But, as I walked along with my wife and kids, suspending the real world for a while to enjoy watching children having fun on Halloween, boy was I surprised to see none other than Maria Cantwell and entourage standing there pressing the flesh for some last minute votes. There were even a couple volunteers with a card table dutifully handing out Cantwell yard sign and bumper stickers. Because when a kid says "Trick or Treat" of course what they really want is not candy, but a political bumper sticker.

Leave it to Cantwell to take a children's event and shamelessly exploit it for campaigning. If the voters re-elect Cantwell next week, they'll find that Cantwell is done handing out treats and back to her old progressive tricks.