Gregoire is benefiting from national trends
It's not a great time to be a Republican or a maverick, and the Gregoire campaign is capitalizing on these issues.
We're awarding two points to Gov. Chris Gregoire on our Guvometer, since she, like other Democrats, is benefiting from the financial meltdown and the fading of the Palin Effect. She's come up in recent polls, now back to a 50-48 lead over Dino Rossi. The state party's ploy of filing suit over Rossi's use of "GOP Party" rather than "Republican" is another winner for Gregoire. Even if the suit goes nowhere, it gets headlines and reminds confused voters that, yes, Dino is a member of the minority party.
Barack Obama has had a remarkable surge during the financial crisis, with voters apparently turning to a more steady leader than the erratic McCain. We think the same thing will happen with Gregoire, as the state economy sours. Rossi's vagueness and inexperience will start to translate into riskiness, even though his tax-cutting, pro-business stance is a positive. Look for Gregoire to make more cuts in the current budget, as she's been doing, to shore up the fiscal prudence side of her case.
Meanwhile, the second of five gubernatorial debates is Thursday night, Sept. 25, in Blaine, Wash. It will be taped by TVW for later broadcast.
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Comments:
Posted Thu, Sep 25, 8:05 p.m. Inappropriate
CNN Rachel Maddow just reported that Dino Rossi and twenty five other Republican candidates across Washington State are refusing to use the word "Republican" on any official documents. Instead Rossi wants to use the term "GOP Party". The Democrats are suing.
The Republicans are hurtin' for certain this time around.
What do the Republicans have to run on after all that has happened, and is still happening?
All of their traditional selling points are hollowed out shells, burned out remnants of their former selves.
They can no longer claim to be the party of fiscal restraint, or hard nosed good business sense, or given the numbers of families that are being thrown out of their homes daily and probably breaking up it will be hard for them to claim to be the party of family values.
The Bush administration is the presidency of unintended consequences, now the Chinese are capitalists and the Americans are socialists! Go figure!
They have sold this country out to the COMMUNIST CHINESE!!! Dwight Eisenhower is turning over in his grave! If I was in my grave I'd be turning over too!
This time next year the New York Stock Exchange will have a new name The People's Democratic Stock Exchange Collective of Shanghai, Chairman Mao Branch.
The election is only about forty days away and this country is angry at the Republican Party. Very angry. No matter how anybody does the math it isn't going to be a good year to be a Republican.
Posted Fri, Sep 26, 10:39 a.m. Inappropriate
However a contrary scenario is also imaginable, for both Gregoire and ST.
The fundamentals of legal and financial 'operations' though will not change.
As they say, you always have to pay "The Piper".
-Douglas Tooley
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