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Rematch On Tap In Washington Governor's Race
Former state Sen. Dino Rossi (R-WA) will announce his plans to challenge Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) next year.
Rossi lost a highly contentious bid to Gregoire in 2004 by a 133-vote margin, after a series of recounts and a court challenge tipped the election to the Democrat. Given the closeness of their previous match-up, observers expect this contest to be a hard-fought one.
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The only poll out of the race lately has it pretty much completely tied.
October 23, 2007 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would think Gregoire would have some advantages of incumbency. I haven't heard of anything bad happening in WA.
October 23, 2007 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Like Cantwell in 2006, this is another race that's going to look winnable for the Republicans on paper, but remain out of reach once the campaign is actually underway. People voted for Rossi because they wanted a change from Gary Locke's rudderless style of "leadership" and thought Gregoire would provide more of the same. She hasn't. She's been a far better Governor than she was a candidate and I think she's learned her lesson about playing nice with Rossi.
Of course, now that Rossi has officially announced, it should make inquiries into his non-profit shadow campaign group go a lot easier.
October 23, 2007 2:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Another factor that may play into this race: a lot of new residents have been moving into Washington in the past four years, and a lot of them are coming from liberal strongholds like New York and California. I'm not sure about the figures, but if there are 3% more voters due to immigration, and 2/3 of those voters choose the democratic nominee, then Gregoire has a 1% total electoral advantage over Rossi.
I think it will still be close, but Gregoire won't need a recount this time around.
October 23, 2007 4:23 PM | Reply | Permalink