A Gregoire Scare Letter

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A Gregoire Scare Letter

Scary fundraising mailings have become a staple of American politics, prying dollars from donors with predictions that demons will dominate if checks do not immediately go into the mail.

A jowly Ted Kennedy and/or a grim Hillary Clinton has, until recently, decorated Republicans' Senate mailings. The Democrats have specialized in showing a shifty-eyed Dick Cheney.

Kelly Evans, campaign manager for Gov. Chris Gregoire, sent out a classic appeal on Thursday, warning of Dino Rossi and doom in the very week that a statewide Elway Poll showed her tiger 16 points ahead.

"A Democratic tidal wave is sweeping the nation -- but Washington is dangerously close to being left behind," Evans wrote. (The same Elway poll showed Obama with a 12-point lead among Washington voters.)

Nefarious deeds by one's rival are an essential of the scare mailing. Without naming names, Evans evokes the Building Industry Association of Washington's ham-fisted campaign on Rossi's behalf.

"The fact is that our Republican opponent and his friends have already spent millions on attack ads and made it clear that no attack -- no matter how dirty and divisive -- is off limits," Evans wrote.

What Evans did not say is that Gregoire's campaign has raised more than $8 million . . . or that a Democratic front group, funded by labor unions and the Democratic Governors Association, has aired ham-fisted attack ads against Rossi.

The pitch quickly follows, often inviting the would-be donor to become part of a select few.

"The only way Washington will be part of this wave is with the help of supporters like you: We need 400 supporters to take the next step and contribute to our campaign by August 31."

A more intense warning usually tops out scare mailings. "What could happen with Barack Obama in the White House and more Democrats in Congress and the Legislature, but with a George Bush Republican like Dino Rossi in control of the state?"

Interruption for a question: How would Dino Rossi be in "control of the state" if Democrats run the Legislature and dominate the national government? But scare mailings aren't for explanation.

Evans soldiers on, warning that Rossi opposes a woman's right to choose, will have nothing of stem cell research, and doesn't understand global warming.

Why such a mailing, in the dog days of summer when most of us tune out politics?

The Elway Poll may not be right.

A trio of recent surveys, taken by Democrats and Republicans, have shown Washington's governor's race to be tight as a tick. Rossi has already raised more bucks than he did in 2004.

The governor's reelection campaign has been anything but subtle in raising money. Law and public relations firms with Democratic connections, or doing lots of business with the state, have been invited to hold fundraisers . . . and given an amount they are expected to raise.

One thing that Kelly Evans might think about: It's summer in the Northwest. It's a time of year when we get outdoors, in the most livable part of the country. Voters are out on the Sound or up in the mountains.

Instead of grim letters, and press ganging of supporters, why not put on a fundraising event that's fun?

As well, Evans could get her facts straight. Rossi is not running officially as a Republican, but has asked that his name appear on the ballot with a preference of the "G.O.P. party."

Posted by at August 7, 2008 5:51 p.m.
Categories: 2008 Governor's Race, Democrats, Dino Rossi, Governor Chris Gregoire

Comments

#162739

Posted by unregistered user at 8/7/08 7:41 p.m.

Joel Connelly,
When are you going to blow the whistle on Norm Dicks using public money to get his son David a job?
Protecting a fellow Democrat?

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#162759

Posted by myopinion_matters at 8/7/08 8:42 p.m.

Queen Christine is running scared, its fun to see. Hey if she had done such a great job, she wouldnt have to worry.

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#162765

Posted by phinney77 at 8/7/08 9:12 p.m.

I usually vote for the candidate who gets the most "mud" thrown at them. So far its Rossi, but his 527s arn't above slinging the brown stuff either.

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#162767

Posted by Eustacian at 8/7/08 9:14 p.m.

Surplus when she went into office.

Deficit when she leaves.

Highest gas tax in the nation.

No thanks Christine. NEXT!

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#162776

Posted by Laughing at 8/7/08 9:43 p.m.

The things that the democratic leaders think are going to sway people are the exact things that have pushed me away. Sadly the democratic party has become the party of hate and lies, Dino might not be the best choice in the world, but the ads against him are total lies, and that sucks. Not one decent ad for what she has done to help the people of Washington State, just hate and lies.

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#162782

Posted by Big Caddy at 8/7/08 10:04 p.m.

The anti-Dino ads are GREAT! If you look at the ultra fine print flashed for a millisecond at the bottom of the screen the democrat slimers are citing bills (omnibus budget, I presume) that Rossi voted against in 1999!

The democrats are so lame. So Rossi votes against an omnibus budget bill proposed by the democrats in 1999 and it has funding in there for some DSHS program. So because Rossi voted no, they proclaim he is against BATTERED WOMEN!?!? BWHAHAHA. It would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

Rather than 1999, how about we just focus on the last four years? 6,000 new state employees, a 33% escalation in spending, a $3 BILLION deficit looking us in the face, NO TRANSPORTATION SOLTUIONS, no 520 fix, no viaduct, massive drop out rates in education, junked the WASL standards, forced voters to do iniative after initiative because she won't listen to the people (only panders to her constituent groups), allowed the ferries to rot while appointing Hammond WSDOT chief, provided ZERO leadership on the Sonics and NASCAR and left $114 million a year on the table in the tribal gaming pact.

But hey, that stuff is really irrelevant. She HAS taken care of the really important things - like brokering a global warming carbon cap treaty with Canada... (blatantly prohibited by the US Constitution), honchoed up the Centralia flood relief with daily photo ops hanging out the door of a Huey, and the photo op of boating in Puget Sound so that we knew she had that under control...

You want sleeze? Tell me this, is that her voice I hear on the Ferry PA system now welcoming us aboard the same Elwha that then promptly went adrift with propulsion problems? Now that is ironic! Hey, maybe she could do a TV commercial with her and Paula Hammond down in the engine room trying to fix the boat!?!

Why doesn't DINO just do an ad focused on the above and run it every 30 seconds between now and November?

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#163163

Posted by 001 at 8/8/08 11:06 p.m.

What ever happened to that french company that wanted to spend $6,000,000,000 at the tri-cities? Oh yeah christine sent them to Idaho. Thanks chris.

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#163462

Posted by unregistered user at 8/9/08 10:30 p.m.

Joel Connelly, a Democrat? You've got to be kidding. Joel votes for whomever does thing for Joel and his various properties and vacation spots. What a joke.

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#163580

Posted by Old Goat at 8/10/08 4:37 p.m.

Some of these posts are PRICELESS! If you can't say anything nice about somebody, let's hear it anyway!

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#163644

Posted by aSalvo at 8/11/08 1:33 a.m.

She could fool some of the people, some of the time, but she can't fool all of the people, all of the time.

It's time, Washingtonians wise up, before all your rights are taken away, at the whims of the few.

Toxins are added to our Mountain water, in the ploy of stronger teeth for children, while everyone else is force fed toxic Fluoride, becoming the cheapest toxic waste digesters in the state. As long as our livers hold out. Anyone over twenty years old don't need fluoride treated water, it will only accumulate in body fat, like the toxin Agent Orange did to Vietnam Veterans.

What part of Toxin (s), don't you understand?

It will make you ill, ten or twenty years from now, something the Medical Professionals and Drug Companies are counting on, for their profit margins.
Did you ever wonder, who were buying stock, in Bottled water companies, water filter systems? It better not be proponents of fluoridation in our state, county, city and town governments, while they add fluoride filter systems in their own homes, to protect their families, and you and I are Guinea Pigs of the Fluoride Confidence Game.

A Google search on against Fluoride, will make you a wiser voter. Something our Legislators and Representatives should of done. Unless Fluoride-ola got to them first.

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#164465

Posted by BlueShirtMedia at 8/12/08 6:21 p.m.

Big Caddy - I can't attest to the small print because I haven't looked. But at the same time, you criticize the Gregoire campaign for referencing a 1999 vote but Rossi is running on a budget he wrote, but did not pass, in 2003. Five years ago. What's the difference?

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