By any measurement, the 2010 session of the Washington state Legislature hasn’t been any fun.

The responsibility of governing is never easy, but in financially good times, at least the session can be a somewhat enjoyable 60-day respite from their normal day job for legislators.

The 2009 session wasn’t much fun either. Democrats, who control the House, Senate and governor’s office, at least got out of town without raising taxes and with friends still speaking to them. Also, they could hope that the economy would start to turn around in 2010, and they could accomplish the same thing.

After all, 2010 is an election year for all members of the House and half of the Senate, which could be a lot more dangerous politically. Last year, all the Democrats left town hoping, praying and with their fingers crossed that things would get better.

Well, no such luck. Coming into the session, the Democrats knew the Republicans wouldn’t help. That’s because the Republicans want to regain control of the Legislature, and helping the Democrats isn’t consistent with that goal.

But while the Democrats knew the Republicans wouldn’t help, they arrived in Olympia to find even their friends were feeling pretty cantankerous.

Labor, social service providers, environmentalists, teachers, state employees and others who typically support Democrats had been forced to accept budget cuts, salary cuts and layoffs. They came to Olympia to tell the governor and the Legislature that the cuts were harming people and that it was time to at least balance cuts with tax increases. They were organized and made it clear that if the Democrats didn’t look at taxes, they couldn’t automatically count on their traditional supporters come election time.

Many supported the theme phrase “DIME” — “don’t invest in more excuses,” which was a pointed political message to Democrats.

The Republicans found some humor in watching labor and Democrats in a political fight, and played their position to maximum gain.

Republicans kept their message clear: “No more taxes” and “we told you so.” The last phrase refers to the cautions many Republicans expressed regarding Democratic spending and priority choices during the good times.

The pressure in Olympia was so strong that some Democratic legislators were even discussing the dreaded “I” word. That’s “income tax” in code, and rarely does anyone ever mention it out loud. But it was discussed many times and usually in a somewhat acceptable fashion. That means it would only apply to high income earners, which are typically — you guessed it — Republican.

Unfortunately for Democrats, a large group in favor of legalizing marijuana arrived in the capital, and several decided they would support an income tax as well. The confluence of those two political issues did provide some comedic relief.

As I write this column, the Legislature has passed a budget, but is still arguing over taxes — and all in all not having a good session, politically speaking.

In a future column, we’ll look at how some of the issues were handled, but the politics have favored the Republicans. Why? Because most everyone is mad.

Republicans are mad at Democrats, Democrats are mad at Democrats and Democratic supporters are mad at Democrats.

Could they lose control of the Legislature this fall? Probably not. They have fairly solid margins, but they could lose several seats, and campaigning isn’t going to be any more fun than governing in the coming months.