Caitlin Ross has given stump speeches, been in front of huge audiences, pressed the flesh by the hundreds at county fairs and been interviewed many times on the radio and TV.
"But," she says, "I have never done what I'll be doing next week."
What Caitlin, the diminutive 23-year-old elder daughter of KIRO's Dave Ross (m-f, 9a-12p) will be doing next week is filling in for him on Monday and Friday. Other fill-ins will be David Goldstein,Tuesday; Carl Jeffers, Wednesday & Thursday.
"I've never been the host of anything..." she says - "I guess I've been the host of my campaign."
Caitlin, as we reported last year, ran (or hosted) a campaign for state representative in the dryside 9th District which sprawls over all or parts of six counties– Whitman, Adams, Franklin, Garfield, Asotin and Spokane.
She lost- she was a Democrat in the Republican heartland, after all- but it wasn't for lack of a spirited, and serious campaign. Her opponent was a Steve Hailey of Mesa, a third generation farmer, Vietnam vet, grandfather and Republican in a district that hasn't put a Democrat in the Legislature since 1976. (Hailey's silly name, according to a New York Times report is Snotty Wafflebrains).
Caitlin graduated Gonzaga University in 2005. After the campaign, Caitlin had trouble finding a job on the dryside, so she's back over here working in Ballard and living on Mercer Island. She's applying to work in the 2008 legislative session.
"My real roots are in Eastern Washington," she says. (That's why she hangs out up to her butt in wheat (see photo).
Rod Arquette, she says, approached her, and talked her into trying out a couple of days of fill-in for her Dad. It sounds like she doesn't quite believe it herself when she says, "I know I can do it- I'll be in good hands- and besides it's only three hours."
She's still unsure about her political footing in liberal Seattle. "I'm new to the politics of the west side- I'm a little conservative for here- over there I was a flaming liberal."
You'll do fine, we said. "I just know," she replied, " that I'm bookends to the week, and I better have something to say by 9 ayem."
Can't imagine the apple falls too far from the tree. Dave is class and very talented and I'm sure his character is instilled in his off-spring. Go for it Caitlin; should be easy compared to running as a Dem in E. Wash! Good Luck, I'll be listening. :o)
Posted by: Duffman | September 28, 2007 at 05:25 AM
An opportunity for another female voice on the radio. I wish her luck. I wonder if her conservative bent might have helped a bit.
Posted by: joanie | September 28, 2007 at 08:18 AM
If her name wasn't "Ross" would she get a shot? Hell no!
Posted by: sclub | September 28, 2007 at 09:07 AM
is there no one else? Couldn't kiro just run dori commercials for those days?
Posted by: jamesb | September 28, 2007 at 09:11 AM
Hey Duff
Joanie is back from the 'skedaddle.'
Hey Joanie why don't you take the opportunity to apologize to Duff for making those false accusations? Sparky and Fremont did.
Given your oft stated high opinion of yourself, we do expect a little more from you then Coiler. Not much, but a little more.
It would be the class thing to do. We'll pause to cue in the crickets....
In regards to Ms. Ross, it will be interesting to see how she does. Was it nepotism, c'mon of course it was. But the name only opens the door, she has to be able to perform.
Some people are naturals that with hard work can do very well. Others like Erin Hart never get it. (Does ANYONE here think Erin Hart was a good host?)
Posted by: PugetSound | September 28, 2007 at 09:30 AM
I'm sure she's a very nice young woman, but there is nothing in her resume to suggest she will be any good at this. Obviously if her name were Caitlin Jones and she wanted to guest-host on KIRO, she'd be Tasered to stop her at the reception desk. This is "stunt casting," it's got nothing to do with her own abilities or qualifications, and I'm surprised an independent-thinking young woman would agree to trade as "Daddy's girl."
Posted by: TomF | September 28, 2007 at 10:34 AM
It should be interesting. I wish he would have that Rapper (sorry, I can't remember his name) back to substitute. I really enjoyed him.
Posted by: AprilMayJune | September 28, 2007 at 10:36 AM
It is staggering. The Seattle area has 3.2 million people in it and this it all they can manage?
Plus, not to be agist, but a 23 year old filling in for "Dave Ross"? Hullo?
Posted by: Andrew | September 28, 2007 at 10:41 AM
Sorry to those of you not in similar support but I just heard on the Dave Ross Show that apparently JZ Knight (of 30K year Ramtha fame) has predicted that Mrs Clinton will win the Dem nomination (w/Biden as VP) AND WILL GO ON TO BE POTUS!
Let there now be NO DOUBT! [Hope she's wrong 'bout Biden, tho..
Posted by: Duffman | September 28, 2007 at 11:42 AM
I used to know Caitlin. She's really smart, and really brave and really serious. I doubt she's looking to this as a career move, it is just an interesting idea for her and might get a few extra listeners while Dave takes a week off. Let's not be too critical.
Posted by: sacristy | September 28, 2007 at 12:26 PM
Brave is a good word for Miss Ross. She ran for an office that would be really hard to win considering she was a Democrat and a woman, but she gave it all her heart. I admire her for that. Whatever she ends up doing, she will be worth watching.
Posted by: cindy | September 28, 2007 at 12:31 PM
Andrew
It could be interpreted as a little disrespectful of his audiance to be sure.
But what are the alternatives as a fill in? It would be great if Ron Reagan came in to do the three hours.
It ain't gonna happen.
Probably it would Goldy....like we don't know what his position/point of view is anyway. It would be tolerable to listen to Goldy if he could bring in guests that meaningfully disagreed with him. Instead it is real blah blah blah.
We get it Goldy. You don't like W, you definately don't like Tim Eyeman, and you want Darcy Burner to be the 8th District Congresswoman. I'll concede it all just make it an interesting show.
Heck, Dori just brought in Ron Sims. And while they may have agreed on the current roads package they got into their disagreements and had an interesting discussion.
Again, I want to thank you Andrew for turning me on to Dori. I hadn't listened to him for years but the way you went on about him I figured he was worth a listen!
Posted by: PugetSound | September 28, 2007 at 01:02 PM
I gotta be honest, I'm not going to listen to Dave Ross' daughter. I want stimulating talk, not pontification.
Posted by: Andrew | September 28, 2007 at 01:21 PM
This move is almost Entercom-stupid.
Posted by: sclub | September 28, 2007 at 01:31 PM
Sir Andrew sez:
"I gotta be honest, I'm not going to listen to Dave Ross' daughter. I want stimulating talk, not pontification."
If you were 'honest', you'd give her a chance before writing her off!
Posted by: Duffman | September 28, 2007 at 01:37 PM
Oh great, why don't I just give everyone a chance then? Bring in the freaks!
BTW, look up honest in the dictionary. What you're describing is open-mindedness.
Posted by: Andrew | September 28, 2007 at 01:40 PM
My good man: among it's definitions, 'honesty' implies 'presenting information in an impartial way'. Do you think that portraying Caitlin as 'non-stimulating' and as one who only 'pontificates' WITHOUT ever having heard her is 'impartial'.
Posted by: Duffman | September 28, 2007 at 01:58 PM
You quoted 'presenting information in an impartial way', but if I were to listen despite my better judgement I'd be 'receiving information in an impartial way'. You were wrong, stop fighting it.
Posted by: Andrew | September 28, 2007 at 02:29 PM
Oh, Okay Andrew I'm so glad that you're so fair and balanced; much like Faux News. I suspected when I responded to you that I was wasting my time, and you confirmed that.
I leave you with this: you have room for improvement in your thinking & writing skills. I don't propose to be one but there are many herein you can learn from (to wit: sparks, fremont, joanie, puts and especially Bla'M) I HOPE you are taking advantage of this fine learning opportunity. I am. :o)
Posted by: Duffman | September 28, 2007 at 02:37 PM
You're such a suck up.
Dave Ross' daughter doesn't even deserve a chance. I don't feel that nepotism is a valid business practice and I certainly won't reward it. You're a sucker if you give her a second of your time.
Posted by: Andrew | September 28, 2007 at 02:45 PM
J.Z. Knight. I heard her for about a minute or two on Ross, and switched her off. She sounded intelligent. Well, you have to be to scam all the thousands of gullible knaves who have joined her ridiculous cult. I think i read that she has parlayed this Ramtha horseshit into millions of dollars. Beats robbing banks. Toxic manipulative freaks like J.Z. Knight make me puke.
Posted by: Tommy008 | September 28, 2007 at 02:46 PM
They should hold her accountable for these predictions, and ask her why there was no Hillary/Biden ticket in '08 when it proves to be false.
Some friends said "What The Bleep Do We Know" was a mind expanding movie, and it turns out to be a blatant propoganda piece. It goes to show how dangerous "hopefulness" can be when certain people figure out how to exploit it.
Posted by: Andrew | September 28, 2007 at 02:56 PM
Tommy you got more patience than I in even giving her a few minutes.
JZ Knight is as phony as that toupee on top of Dan Abrahms head. I only watch Dan-o to see if that thing will slip off. Kind of like watching Olberman Special Comments on YouTube for the comedy factor.
Posted by: PugetSound | September 28, 2007 at 03:16 PM
Her real roots are in Eastern Washington? She spent what, four years there, and thats it?
Posted by: Capt Jack | September 28, 2007 at 04:37 PM
What a bunch of sexist pigs on this blog. Do you have nothing more in your lives than to sit here and pass judgement on some young woman you have not even heard yet?
Posted by: Brenda | September 28, 2007 at 06:16 PM
1) nobody said anything desparaging about her gender. Infact you're probably biased in her favor just because she's a girl.
2) she deserves to be judged for capitalising on nepotism. Action speak louder than words.
Posted by: Andrew | September 28, 2007 at 06:30 PM
ms. ross will be fine. i've heard her before on dave's show. just wish suck up err ass dori would take a extended leave to really freshen up KIRO raymond B blvd pk.
Posted by: raymond bresnan | September 28, 2007 at 08:03 PM
First it was Jethro agreeing with Dori, now Ron Sims agreeing with Dori also, My oh My, where will it end.
Posted by: nevets | September 28, 2007 at 09:19 PM
And Dave Ross, is he going on vacation or does he have a job interview. Lately he has been getting really involved in specific stories, especially those that lean against the right. Like todays episode with Carl Jefferers about both Ahmadinejad comments about gays in Iran and Rush's "phony soldiers" comment about that tacoma nut who pled guilty the other day for making false statements. In the first case, Ahmadinejad's statements, Jeffers and Dave both agree that if the media had played all 24 seconds it wouldn't have been such a big deal and not taken out of context. Then Dave plays a 5 second blurb from Rush and it is immediately taken as a fact that Rush thinks all soldiers that talk against the war are Phony like Joanie. I personally think he is doing this on purpose to prove to folks he can still be controvesial and confrontational. Good riddance if he leaves, he has been in Seattle to long and who would want to be number 2 behind Dori.
Posted by: nevets | September 28, 2007 at 09:36 PM
Just a minor point. Caitlan is Dave's youngest daughter, not his oldest.
Posted by: Bummyl | September 28, 2007 at 11:45 PM
Throughout history, the deadliest assasins have been female. I wonder whether Caitlin Ross may have been tapped to "take out" Dori. Not literally, but figuratively, by bedazzling him to the point where he revamps his ultraconservative views. If you concatenate the initials DM and CR you get DMCR, which clearly is an abbreviation of "Democratic."
Posted by: jeeramya | September 29, 2007 at 08:30 AM
jeeramya sez
"If you concatenate the initials DM and CR you get DMCR, which clearly is an abbreviation of "Democratic."
i can see with those stellar analytical skills that it won't be long before you have moved out of your parent's basement and are running your own booth at the next 'Hempfest Fair.'
Posted by: PugetSound | September 29, 2007 at 11:41 AM
I like Dave Ross, but I'm not interested in listening to Daddy's little girl. C'mon KIRO, that's the best you can do?
Posted by: Upton | September 29, 2007 at 06:02 PM
andrew said "You're such a suck up." to duffman. Ive been thinking the same thing.
Posted by: simon | September 29, 2007 at 06:43 PM
I thought we were supposed to suck up to Bla'M. He does provide one of the best sites to argue on.
Am I wrong?
Where else can I express my opins' to a bunch of flaming libs and get intelligent arguments back? I kiss your royal donkey without qualm Michael.
Posted by: chucks | September 29, 2007 at 07:49 PM
chucks, you always seem to see exactly one half of the picture. Sometimes I'm convinced you must be perpetually inebriated, but then I remember you're a card carrying Republican.
Posted by: Andrew | September 29, 2007 at 07:54 PM
Andrew
You have no idea how funny that is.
I really do not drink often, But when I do, it only takes one or two to get me goofy. This was that night. I shall shut up and go to bed. The last time I posted something after a couple cc7's, I felt real bad re joanie. Yep, good time for Chuck to STFU.
Good night.
Chuck
Posted by: chucks | September 29, 2007 at 10:15 PM
Wow, is any one listening to this...so far it ain't good.
Posted by: Duffman | October 01, 2007 at 09:16 AM
Wow, this is a train wreck.
I thought I was pretty tolerant of bad announcing and technical glitches, but Ms. Ross is simply awful -- she can't read copy without stumbling over words, her delivery is full of long pauses, she doesn't ask follow-up questions, and she sounds like she's completely overwhelmed, even though her producer (or whoever that second voice might be) is trying to lead her through the process. It's amateur hour on major-market talk radio.
The only reason to keep listening to this disaster is to see if management takes her out of her misery before the three hours are up.
(apparently, I'm less tolerant than I thought I was...)
Posted by: rev | October 01, 2007 at 09:26 AM
what did you expect? It is her first time on the radio. give her a break, it's only fill-in.
Posted by: sam | October 01, 2007 at 09:33 AM
I'm all for giving her a break, but in previous discussion herein we'd talked about the unfair advantage of nepotism in this regard. I'm sure that there are plenty talk-host wanna be's out there that would have loved this chance and in fact might have gotten it thru objective auditions.
Posted by: Duffman | October 01, 2007 at 09:40 AM
I accidently heard a few minutes of it because my alarm clock did it's thing. I heard a few seconds of dead air and thought, OMG dead air on KIRO? Oh yeah, that's right.
It's actualy bad enough that I want to listen for the historical nature of this obvious train wreck, but I'm one of those people who can't stand to watch people self destruct in public. It took me a few days to actualy watch the pageant girl give that nonsense answer on You Tube.
I know she just started and is filling in, but I'm a human being for God's sake. You can't treat me this way. Am I a fill in listener? No.
Posted by: Andrew | October 01, 2007 at 09:41 AM
Brainless lttle liberal airhead. Typical of what you get when you think you have to satisfy the liberal Seattle establishment. They should run her out right now, and while their at it fire her mealymouth Daddy. Isn't there enough liberals on the radio and TV? KIRO is doing better but they still have a couple of libs left. I'm going back over to Rush.
Posted by: symba | October 01, 2007 at 10:13 AM
...and may I say 'w/Rush' is where you apparently belong.
Posted by: Duffman | October 01, 2007 at 10:19 AM
Maybe Rush will talk some more about how the soldiers who criticize the war are "fake soldiers" all the while hoping nobody will remember that he got out of serving in the military because something was wrong with his butt.
Posted by: sparky | October 01, 2007 at 10:40 AM
To be fair, Caitlin is doing better as she gets further acclimated. She seems to be better when conversing with callers and with them she DOES ask follow-up questions. Still some need for better coordination with the technical aspect of the position and better hook-up with her producer.
Posted by: Duffman | October 01, 2007 at 10:41 AM
Aside from the nepotism and the inexperiance, I don't feel that she's been on earth long enough for me to trust her opinion on any kind of important issue. Regardless of how much a person learns in school through history or social studies, it takes time for the information to settle and become a coherent and independantly achieved world view. I would not even listen to someone my own age. Not old enough.
Posted by: Andrew | October 01, 2007 at 10:49 AM
The first hour was "breaking news" that forced her to think on her feet, as it were. She failed to meet that challenge.
The second hour has been the one that she has been prepping, so she's a bit more confident about what she's saying.
But it's still amateur hour.
Posted by: Rev | October 01, 2007 at 10:49 AM
9:10am... dead air? Gave her a chance, gave up after an hour. It was like watching britney perform on the awards show. uncomfortable to listen to. I can't believe that a big station like kiro took this chance. I usually listen all day. My radio will be tuned to komo 1000 until 12pm today and on Friday. 9-12pm.
Posted by: JS | October 01, 2007 at 10:56 AM
I've suspended my moratorium on Air America in light of KIRO peeing on my face. What a contrast, the normal host's little kid playing with the microphone, sounding like so many clueless college kids that think they have it all figured out...
Versus Thom Hartman talking with Westley Clark on AA, an best selling author and a four star General, Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO, whom collectively have nearly 100 years on Ross' daughter.
Posted by: Andrew | October 01, 2007 at 11:25 AM