Washblog || 2008 is looking like 2004 in Gregoire/Rossi race

2008 is looking like 2004 in Gregoire/Rossi race

By Particle Man
Fri Sep 12, 2008 at 02:07:54 PM PST
Section: Washington State Topic: Election news/info

Over the past 30-60 days we have watched two very different campaigns.
Rossi has successfully distanced himself from the republican party, GW Bush and the McCain ticket.
Rossi has hitched a ride on the change express.
Rossi has outspent Gregoire with solid ads selling himself as "the guy you want in charge in tough times" and defining Gregoire as a tax and spend insider who trades power for political contributions.
Gregoire has run ads touting the values that drive her public service and talk about some important achievements.
Gregoire has shown strong support for the Obama ticket and the democratic party while making kind statements about Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate.
Two recent polls show a continuing trend of slipping support to a point where both Survey USA and Rasmussen reflect Rossi as in the lead. Links and further comment below the fold. Update [2008-9-12 18:6:8 by Particle Man]: The Gov of the great State of WA just posted over on daily KOS here is the link http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/12/145156/381/545/596428

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=228afe99-966e-456a-ad47-3ff5c9c0fb73

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_governor_elections/washi ngton/election_2008_washington_governor

Now some will say that these polls cannot be counted on since they do not reflect the views of those with only cell phones and since these are more urban younger voters that Rossi is really not doing as well as depicted. Sure their is some truth to this except that Rossi pulls strong support from younger voters. Also, the cell phone effect being a constant, you cannot deny that the trend is not a good one.

Some will also point out that these numbers are directly related to how much more money Rossi has spent over the past 30-60 days than Gregoire. If you agree with this argument then all we need to do is spend more money at the right time and we peak just as folks begin to vote and then keep the push going till election day. The obvious goal of every campaign is to peak at the right time.

The tightening of the Obama v/s McCain race and the choice of Palin are obvious factors and a direct link seems to exist between the shift in these numbers and the shift in the swing woman vote in the governors race.
For his part, Obama only needs to win this state by 50% +1 vote and may not spend the bucks here to ensure an 8% to 10%+ margin though this kind of margin would be a great help in the governor's reelection campaign.
One other factor key to this race involves the gutting of the more experienced press personalities across our state. So many have been lost and so many others have seen sharp cutbacks that the potential for the press to expose a candidate like Rossi is greatly diminished. This is great news for Rossi who sells himself well until details are demanded and he cannot control his message.

While I have no inside knowledge of what is planned by the state party, the Obama campaign or the Gregoire campaign, I implore them to get on the same page and divide up the tasks of defining Mr. Rossi and doing a far better job of telling the governors story. As for Palin, while she may play well in the rust belt, she is no friend to the people of Washington State. She has thwarted Salmon policy between the western states and Canada, pushes a drill drill drill policy aimed at sending more tankers into Puget Sound with benefit only for Alaska residents. Palin and Rossi have the same conservative beliefs and Palin's actions as an elected official show us what to expect if Rossi were to be elected. Palin attempted to ban books and when this failed she retaliated by trying to fire the librarian and she imposed the policy of charging rape victims for the examination costs associated with proving the crime committed against them. She should be a gift here from a political standpoint yet so far she gets a pass.

The key though is in how we tell our governor's story between now and the election. The facts are that this governor more than any in recent history has tackled tough issues head on and facilitated solutions that make our state better. The compelling story is not found in the issues themselves but in her track record as a devoted and skilled problem solver.
Water policy though not very sexy on this side of the mountains, had been stuck in an endless cycle of study and more study for nearly a generation until this governor took up the issue and brought home a landmark agreement.
The campaign has done a fare job of pointing out how our state has built and sustained a strong economy even as Bush has trashed the nation's economy with failed policy and by forcing an ever increasing burden upon state government. But the campaign has failed, thus far, to make clear why we need a leader like Chris at the helm with tough times ahead.

It frosts me that with such a clear choice, likely voters seem so split. The next eight years could really be great for our state with a democratic president, majorities in congress with a powerful state delegation, democratic majorities in our legislature and a governor with the proven skills, drive, vision and experience to solve the challenges ahead. Or we could elect a guy who will stop everything in its tracks toss out all of the skilled leadership in every agency, sending staff reeling and bringing everything to a screeching halt despite roadblocks across state and federal government, while remaining focused on paying back his huge debt to the BIAW and the casino bosses in Nevada.

< Weyerhaeuser is buying the WA State Lands Commissioner office ($100,000 donation today) | It's time more veterans accepted the truth about McCain >

Poll

Votes: 7
Results	\|	Other Polls

2008 is looking like 2004 in Gregoire/Rossi race | 7 comments (7 topical)

Loser Campaign Thieves & Queen Anne

Capitol Hill, Laurelhurst, ... Money Crowd = Pathetic Campaign.

I was unable to vote in the 36th District Burbank / Carlyle endorsement meeting Thursday night because the meeting went too late, (I have a REAL job, not a professional-show-up-when-I-chose-job) and the meeting went too late, in part, because we had to listen to Ms. Levine and Senator Kolls-Wells preach to the choir about how:

- we all need to GOTV kill ourselves cuz

-- meanies are lying,
-- meanies aren't nice,
-- we're nice and we don't lie, therefore we aren't meanies,

THEREFORE,

A la Dukakis, Gore, Kerry, Hillary's Healthcare, Mondale,

CUZ we cede the media narrative

We're gonna beat the lying, uc-nice meanies with GOTV !!

cuz even though our Dem media campaign people get tons of money outta the affluent of Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, Ballard, Magnolia ...

the socially and economically successful affluent of Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, Laurelhurst ... are POLITICIALLY CLUELESS about the politics of Rove, Atewater and Ailes.

Therefore the money crowd keeps hiring, if not the same Loser Campaign Thieves, then new versions of the same old Loser Campaign Thieves, who are GROSSLY incompetent at fighting the politics of Rove, Atewater and Ailes.

Oh, and by the way - in 1 critical way the loser political nitwits running these state campaigns into the ground are NOT losers --

they're getting paid way better than I've ever been paid, and that I'll ever get paid, to run the same ol same ol CRAP campaigns and CRAP media!

While Ms. Gregroire, for my taste, has bought too much into the right wing definition of 'middle' and hasn't done enough to move that fake right wing definition,

just like ALL of our pathetic Federal Delegation,

she's been a lot better than Governor Sell Out ... Governor Clinton ... OOOPS !!! Governor Locke!! How do I get so confused?

She SHOULD be Stomping Dino-The-Flat-Earther.

This guy is FULL of the same RayGun / Bush Jr. LIES about giving a crap about American ideals and us hard working stiffs, while in fact he's gonna let his minions keep pushing us into servitude for the rich and powerful.

WHY should ANYONE break their tail for the same ol same ol LOSING campaign tactics?

Doesn't ANYONE get that people who are fighting to keep their nose above water ain't interested in fighting for 'leaders' who

won't fight lying fascists?
won't fight for themselves?

who therefore sure as hell

won't fight for US?

millions and millions of dollars in campaign money, and no one can make media which shows LIARS to be LIARS?

I got better things to do with my time.

rmm.

and

http://www.liemail.com/BambooGrassroots.html

by rmdSeaBos on Sat Sep 13, 2008 at 05:29:47 AM PST

* 1 none 0 *

If Rossi can avoid having to express specifics and

restrict himself to slogans, un-defined specifics and rhetoric aimed at small minds in small towns, he could make headway.

The initial Gregoire ads attacking Rossi were bad .... very bad ... and personally annoying. Whoever designed those ads needs to be replaced.

Any time one candidate makes statements and broadcasts ads in a style less mature than what you find in a junior high locker room or pep club, the attacker will lose. The opposition candidate, if wise and cunning, will only have to act more adult and less junior high.

Ultimately, those ads sink home in ways not hoped for. When backlash is not necessarily partisan-based it is based on a perceived offense; for example as something good people do not do to other people.

In terms of avoiding chasing Rossi's chaff all over the radar, the object seems to be to personalize a candidate's campaign voice; getting him to say what he means and means what he says. This can free us and those Dems from constant misdirection of chasing wild gooses while the candidate hides in plain sight.

Arthur
You sure you ain't staking too much on yer theories? Not enough common sense?

by Arthur Ruger on Sat Sep 13, 2008 at 11:43:10 AM PST

* 2 none 0 *

Rossi running state government as a business might

very well look like this. It's the sort of "conservative" logic that fits right in with Rossi's rhetoric about correcting how citizens' taxes might be wasted and also in ways coincides with Rossi's historical voting patterns on social programs and services in Washington:

From HUFFPO:

Under Sarah Palin's administration, Wasilla cut funds that had previously paid for the medical exams and began charging victims or their health insurers the $500 to $1200 fees. Although Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella wrote USA Today earlier this week that the GOP vice presidential nominee "does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test...To suggest otherwise is a deliberate misrepresentation of her commitment to supporting victims and bringing violent criminals to justice," Palin, as mayor, fired police chief Irl Stambaugh and replaced him with Charlie Fannon, who with Palin's knowledge, slashed the budget for the exams and began charging the city's victims of sexual assault. The city budget documents demonstrate Palin read and signed off on the new budget. A year later, alarmed Alaska lawmakers passed legislation outlawing the practice.

Arthur
You sure you ain't staking too much on yer theories? Not enough common sense?

by Arthur Ruger on Sun Sep 14, 2008 at 08:19:02 AM PST

* 3 none 0 *

HIGH ROAD v/s low road

Aethur, thanks for your posts they added content.
I would have to say though, that Rossi has always been a say anything do anything, to get elected kind of guy, and I have no respect for that.
Still, a strict high road campaign against him will fail. The press will not call him out. He will run out the clock if left alone. He must be hit and hit hard but the hits must be smart.

by Particle Man on Sun Sep 14, 2008 at 10:13:53 AM PST

* 4 none 0 *

I agree with you. n/t by Arthur Ruger, 09/14/2008 05:49:00 PM PST (none / 0)

Why Can't Our INCOMPETENT Dems have by rmdSeaBos, 09/14/2008 06:35:47 PM PST (none / 0)

Hmmmm by Particle Man, 09/15/2008 09:56:31 AM PST (none / 0)

2008 is looking like 2004 in Gregoire/Rossi race | 7 comments (7 topical)

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