Washington Democrats and the GOP commence mud-slinging
The 2008 governor's race might not be official, but it's real.
By Austin Jenkins
October 11, 2007.
Get ready for a rough-and-tumble 2008 governor's race in Washington. The candidates haven't even formally declared they're running, but already the political bombs are dropping.
The Washington State Democrats have launched a new Web site called www.sleazyrossifrontgroup.com. The theme is that Republican Dino Rossi's non-profit Forward Washington Foundation think tank is a front for his unannounced campaign for governor. The Democrats earlier filed a complaint with the state Public Disclosure Commission.
Rossi has resigned as president of Forward Washington, saying the controversy was dragging the organization down.
Meanwhile, Republicans are blasting incumbent Gov. Chris Gregoire for conducting town hall meetings around the state at a cost to taxpayers of approximately $120,000.
Gregoire's staff claims the listening tour is mandated by the Legislature, but that's a bit of a stretch. A law passed in 2005 says simply the governor "shall seek public involvement and input" as she's setting budget priorities.
Republicans are quick to note that 2008 is an off-budget year. The Legislature will pass a supplemental budget next year, but the main two-year spending plan has already been enacted.
Republicans allege the town hall tour is a taxpayer-funded campaign swing. They're especially galled by the fact pollster Stuart Elway has a $100,000 state contract to conduct focus groups as part of the tour. Elway, an independent pollster, did similar work for the governor last year.
Gregoire and Rossi are being very coy about announcing their candidacies. But the political parties are clearly chomping at the bit to get this rematch going - apparently the sooner, and more negative, the better.
Comments:
Posted Fri, Oct 12, 1:27 a.m. Inappropriate
Not raising taxes isn't much of a platform, particularly after 8 yrs of a President
who ran on the same platform and delivered other such odious results, as now recognized by D's and R's alike.
The loss to Gregoire in the last election may be a catalyzing issue to the hard-core R's, but the broader electorate sees it as Rossi and crew just being poor sports. He lost. Take it like a man. Right now, I personally see the R's as a bunch of cry-babies. And I don't particularly like the D's either.
Rossi's a likeable guy, but I expect him to try to sell obviously smelly Republican fare as good for the people, when in fact it'll mainly be good for Republicans and for business. People won't buy it. Rossi will have to have something other than a smile to sell. In case he hasn't noticed, Republicanism is in disfavor and associated negatively with George Bush. It's a lot to overcome. A candidate will need substance to win. Attacking Gregoire would be a reasonable all encompassing strategy, except that that she has a ton of accomplishments to go along with a few gaffes. And besides, male Republicans look ugly when they attack female Dems in this state. So going negative is a losing strategy for Rossi. Running on his record might make sense, but lately he doesn't really have much of a public record to run on. About the only thing I can recommend is that Nice Guy Shtick. You can go along way with that, but Gregoire, though a bit wooden, is also reasonably nice, and female to boot. The upshot is that I expect Rossi to lose big time. .
Posted Sat, Oct 13, 2:28 a.m. Inappropriate
Throwing mud, or throwing blood?: That graphic is freaking me out...