Tick, tock goes the Boeing clock

(UPDATED with link to Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon speech.)

The waiting is about to end as The Boeing Co.is expected to decide this month if it will build a second production line for the 787 Dreamliner in Washington or South Carolina..

Lobbying is intensifying. Today, Gov. Chris Gregoire released a stack of letters sent to Jim Albaugh, the guy in charge of Boeing’s commercial division and a pivotal voice in the process.

If you look quickly, there seems to be a few notable absences. I don’t see one from the Snohomish County Council. While Executive Aaron Reardon didn’t pen a letter, he’s been making his pitch in speeches as well as pushing ahead with an aerospace training center at Paine Field.

Back to the letters. I don’t see one from House Speaker Frank Chopp or from any batch of state lawmakers of either political party. (I understand Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown has sent one.) I’m not saying state lawmakers don’t want Boeing to stay. They’re probably just not letter writers.

Also this morning, political leaders in Washington and in Washington, D.C. are continuing to do their best to get company and union leaders chatting again on a long term labor agreement.

That is far and away the issue that will matter most in the upcoming decision.