Dino Rossi Is Making the Rounds In DC
Dino Rossi is meeting people in Washington, D.C. discussing the upcoming Senate race against Patty Murray. The fact that he flew out to DC for a couple of days clearly shows that he is more than moderately interested in this race. Here’s hoping…
Is he getting closer to running?
Dino Rossi Stops By The NRSC To Talk Washington Senate Race
Former state Sen. Dino Rossi (R) stopped by the National Republican Senatorial Committee Wednesday to meet with Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) about a bid against Sen. Patty Murray (R-Wash.).
NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh confirmed Rossi’s meeting, but it’s not a big surprise given that he met Tuesday with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.
“Senator Cornyn continues to meet with a number of potential candidates in Washington,” Walsh said. “We believe and her poll numbers confirm that Sen. Murray is vulnerable, and we intend this to be a very competitive race in November.”
The NRSC believes Rossi could wage a competitive campaign against Murray, but since the filing deadline isn’t until June, he has said in interviews that he will take his time deciding.
Earlier is better for Senate Republicans, who are otherwise faced with a crowded primary of little-known GOP candidates. If Rossi doesn’t run, former local newscaster Susan Hutchison is waiting in the wings.
Rossi is making the rounds with pollster Hans Kaiser of Moore Information.
Update: this story would seem to eliminate a story on Washington’s premiere leftist blog, Horses Ass, that hypothesized that Rossi was going to run for governor in 2012 which is why Rob Mckenna was pushing this lawsuit. Their logic does’t really add up, but either way I think Rossi is a much more likely candidate against Patty than for governor in two and a half years.
Update II: Previously Rossi had stated that alot of pople were approaching and calling asking him to get into the race. Rossi has clearly moved to the next level of intrest, if he is willing to fly to DC for a few days he is obviously seriously weighing a run.
The Special Session Grinds On
without much progress…
According to the Tacoma News Tribune
House-Senate impasse over taxes grinds session to near-halt
Top House and Senate negotiators were in Olympia to bring ideas for ending the impasse over how to raise $800 million in new revenue – without the temporary sales-tax increase that the Senate has suggested. But no one publicly offered new ideas, and most rank-and-file lawmakers won’t be coming to Olympia on Wednesday, either.
The House Democrats say they lack votes for a sales-tax increase – even the Senate’s scaled-back plan – as part of their nearly $800 million tax package. And the Senate can’t find the minimum 25 votes of support for substitute taxes the House approved.
The fact that House and Senate Democrats cannot get on the same page shows the mismanagement of the powers that be in Olympia. Frank Chopp, Lisa Brown and Gov. Gregoire are all Democrats but they cannot seem to get on the same page. This also shows how worried many lawmakers are about the upcoming elections. Democrats have massive majorities in both Chambers and Republicans cannot really stop the Democrats as was evidenced by the repeal of I-960.
The goods news for challengers, is that the longer incumbents are in session the longer they have to wait to start raising money for the elections that are fast approaching. Every day the Democrats spend bickering in Olympia is one more day that voters get to see them as ineffective. And that is one fewer day they get to spend on the campaign trail and raising money.
Democrats Go After Mckenna
Democrats ratcheted up attacks on Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna on Tuesday after he made Washington a party to the 13-state lawsuit challenging the health-care bill signed by President Obama.
Democrats in the Legislature are considering a budget proviso to block McKenna from spending state money on the lawsuit.
“We are looking at that,” said Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane. “We’re researching it right now, but there is no decision yet.” In a letter to McKenna, Brown called his lawsuit “far outside the mainstream interests” of the state and asked him to reconsider.
Meanwhile, the state Democratic Party filed a broad public-records request with McKenna’s office, demanding to see all documents related to his decision.
It’s unlikely those actions will have any immediate effect on the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in a Florida federal court. The lawsuit challenges the health-care law’s requirement that every person buy health insurance, calling it an “unprecedented encroachment” on individual liberty.
If you read the article in the Seattle Times and the statements from Gregoire and the leading Dems, they never address the merits of the lawsuit. Instead they claim that the Obamacare bill is a good policy that will help Washington Families. While I strongly disagree with their claims, they are missing the point. The lawsuit is not about policy differences, it is about whether the federal government is acting within it’s constitutional limitations with this bill. AG Mckenna is doing his job in standing up for the Constitution and his opponents are simply playing politics.
State schools chief Randy Dorn arrested on suspicion of drunken driving
From the Seattle Times
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn was arrested early Sunday in Orting under suspicion of driving under the influence, his office confirmed Tuesday.
The traffic stop occurred at about 1:30 a.m. at roughly the 300 block of Washington Avenue North, said Orting Police Chief Bill Drake. That’s the same block as Orting High School.
Dorn said in a statement Tuesday that he and his family were attending a community event Saturday night where he drank beer with dinner. He was stopped by local police on the way home, he said.
He said that he isn’t able to discuss further details of the incident right now.
I am glad we are setting a strong example for our kids.
One thought I had on his statement was that 1:30 AM is awfully late to be out for dinner or for a "community event."
According to the Tacoma News Tribune his blood Alcohol content was 0.11 at 3:00AM which was an hour and a half after he was pulled over. Now I am not going to speculate but why did the police wait over an hour and a half to administer a breathalyzer test? Dorn is from nearby Eatonville so it makes you wonder if the policeman at the scene was taking it easy on the locally elected Dorn…
Also from the TNT
Dorn, 56, was cited for driving under the influence and also received a ticket for driving 10 miles over the speed limit. Though police confirmed Dorn was arrested, jail records show he wasn’t booked into Pierce County Jail. Orting Police Chief Bill Drake said DUI suspects are often released after their arrests if they have no other pending charges. Drake said Tuesday that he couldn’t release more information about Dorn’s arrest because he was still finishing the investigation.
That is where Dorn really blew it. Never go 10 mph over in Orting. Never.
Gregoire; and the Legislature’s Approval Ratings at Abysmal lows
Gregoire cannot be happy about these numbers
From King 5
Lawmakers may be glad general elections are not held in March after seeing the results of a new KING 5 poll. It shows that about two-thirds of Washington residents don’t like the job they are doing.
The poll, conducted for KING 5 News and KATU-TV in Portland by SurveyUSA, asked 600 Washington state adults what they thought of Gov. Chris Gregoire’s job performance, as well as that of the Legislature.
Sixty-nine percent of those polled said they disapprove of the job the Legislature is doing. Gov. Chris Gregoire’s rating was slightly better – 65 percent say they disapprove of her job performance.
“I agree with them. They’re no more frustrated than I am,” said Gregoire.
Of those polled only 20% approved of the job the Legislature was doing, while 31% approved of the job that Gov. Gregoire was doing. These numbers closely resemble a Survey USA poll from February that looked at the popularity, or lack thereof of repealing I-960. Of those polled, 24% believed only a vote of a simple majority should be needed to pass a tax increase while 74% believed it should take a 2/3rd vote, in the same poll, 24% of people thought repealing I-960 was the right thing to do, while 68% believed it was the wrong thing. The polling holds fairly steady that around 65% of people are solidly opposed to what Gregoire and the Democrats in the Legislature are doing in Olympia.
These numbers do not bode well for Democrats who hold massive majorities in both the House and the Senate. Let’s hope that voters remember in November.
The Seattle PI only wishes it was so…
In a post entitled “Did Rob McKenna just cost himself the governor’s mansion?” the Seattle PI asks a loaded question it only wishes were true. I guess this kind of leftist bias explains why the PI is no longer in print, a
nd is relegated to being an online newspaper. The fact is while this decision by A.G. Mckenna is constitutionally correct, I believe it is also politically expedient as well. As the PI, acknowledges Rob Mckenna has spent his whole career courting the middle. He is a leading member of the Mainstream Republicans of Washington, and has developed a reputation as an effective and bipartisan problem solver. He won his last election with over 60% of the vote. Not only is he from King County, and was elected to the County Council his exemplary record as Attorney General include many topics that are hardly right wing. Mckenna has tackled Meth Labs, Identity theft and gang violence; hardly the stuff of a “right wing extremist.” To be honest Mckenna’s largest political vulnerability is to his right. Mckenna is pro-choice and his seen by many conservatives as being too moderate. While this vote will certainly not completely heal that barrier it will certainly assuage the fears of some conservatives, many of whom vote in a Republican primary. This principled stance shows Mckenna’s leadership and helps him appeal to the tea party/ libertarian vein of Washington State. And in my calculations these are the people that will be deciding the elections in 2010 and in 2012. As much as the Seattle PI, wishes it wasn’t true, this vote has strengthened Rob Mckenna’s gubernatorial campaign.
Democrats believe the political juggernaut that is Rob McKenna may have just been tripped up.
On Monday McKenna, the state’s Republican attorney general, said he’d join GOP colleagues and sue to stop the Democrats’ comprehensive health care reform law from taking effect. President Barack Barack Obama is expected to soon sign the measure passed by his party in dramatic fashion Sunday night.
Make no mistake, Democrats have been waiting – praying, actually – for something to use against McKenna. The attorney general and former King County councilman represents the only real threat to the Dems’ continued dominance in Evergreen State politics.
His base of support is in King County, a virtual wasteland for the GOP. He’s personable and sharp, able to argue policy with the best of them. And he’s spent his years as A.G. burnishing his credentials as someone willing to fight for consumers.
Seen as the frontrunner for the governor’s race in 2012, Dems were going to have a hard time demonizing him. At least until Monday.
Believe me, eager party operatives are already envisioning the attack ads they’ll unleash against McKenna. They’ll be something along the lines of: “Rob McKenna, the tool of the evil insurance industry, wants to deny hundreds of thousands of state residents the affordable medical care they need.”
McKenna’s good, but a counter ad detailing the complexities of the Commerce Clause and the 10th Amendment will fall flat.
Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., is considering a gubernatorial run himself.
“We fought over 2,000 insurance industry lobbyists in Washington DC to protect Washingtonians health care, we shouldn’t have to fight our own Attorney General too,” Inslee said late Monday night. “Stripping families of their legal rights to insurance, may be the South Carolina way, may be the insurance company way, may be the Tea Party way, but it’s not the Washington way.”
Ouch. From a purely political standpoint, it does appear that McKenna blew it.
Rob Mckenna to sue Federal Government over the constitutionality of Obamacare
It’s nice to have an elected official who actually cares about the Constitution
Attorney General Rob Mckenna is joining with at least ten other Attorney General’s to challenge the Constitutionality of the federal government requiring individuals to purchase health insurance. Mckenna’s courageous decision has evidently visibly upset the governor.
I applaud Mckenne for standing up for the Constitution and challenging this clearly unconstitutional law. I challenge anyone to show me where in the Constitution the federal government has the right to force it’s citizens to purchase anything, let alone healthcare. While liberals and Obama supporters often tout the example of the government requiring you to purchase auto insurance, they neglect to mention that is a state requirement not a federal one. Federalism people, is a relatively simple concept and I am grateful to have an Attorney General who is willing to stand up for the document that enshrines our freedoms.
According to the Seattle Times
Gov. Chris Gregoire lashed out Monday afternoon at Attorney General Rob McKenna’s decision to join a multistate lawsuit challenging the health-care legislation just approved by Congress.
Speaking to reporters before a bill-signing ceremony, Gregoire said McKenna hadn’t consulted her or Democratic legislative leaders before making his announcement.
“I don’t know who he represents. He doesn’t represent me,” Gregoire said. “I don’t think he represents a million and a half Washingtonians that will be helped by this. I don’t think he represents small business that will be helped by this. I don’t think he represents Medicare people who will be helped by this.”
I found it interesting that the first person Governor Gregoire wants to talk about is herself. She doesn’t mention the Constitution and what it says, oh no, she wants to talk about herself.
The Seattle Times Article Continues
In a statement announcing his decision Monday, McKenna said he believes the health-care measure’s requirement that everyone buy health insurance is unconstitutional.
“I believe this new federal health care measure unconstitutionally imposes new requirements on our state and on its citizens. This unprecedented federal mandate, requiring all Washingtonians to purchase health insurance, violates the Commerce Clause and the 10th amendment of the US Constitution.”
“I’m concerned that the measure unconstitutionally requires all Washingtonians to purchase health insurance and places an extraordinary burden on our state budget by requiring Washington to expand its Medicaid eligibility standards in violation of our state’s rights guaranteed under the10th amendment.”
McKenna joins several other Republican attorneys general, who talked about the legal challenge in a conference call last night, according to a statement from South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster.
In addition to South Carolina and Washington, the attorneys general of Florida, Texas, Nebraska, Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Alabama would join the effort, according to McMaster’s statement.
“We will take our case to the United States Supreme Court if necessary,” McMaster said.
Gregoire said she spoke with McKenna Monday morning after hearing he would be joining the lawsuit along with other Republican attorneys general.
Gregoire said she told him to “get ready to represent me” because she intends to file a legal brief opposing McKenna’s action.
Although McKenna is independently elected, Gregoire said she believes he had a “duty” to consult with other top state officials before agreeing to sue the U.S. government.
McKenna first threatened a lawsuit over the legislation back in December.
This would obviously present an interesting legal scenario if the Attorney General is responsible for representing the Governor’s office in suing himself over his independent right to sue the federal government over the constitutionality of a bill. It is also fitting, but not surprising that Gregoire’s statement makes no mention of whether Obamacare is actually constitutional.
Dino Rossi for Senate?
Will he Run?
In a recent Rasmussen Poll, Dino Rossi is beating Patty Murray by 2%, 48%-46%. The Big question is, will he run? His name ID is obviously high after two high profile failed bids for Governor. The biggest advantage of having Rossi run is that he clearly has the best chance to win and he will generate the kind of excitement that will greatly assist our down ballot candidates for Congress and for State Legislature. With a high profile candidate like Rossi getting Republican voters to the polls our local candidates will perform better. While Rossi has not committed to running, there is currently a facebook group with 2,600 fans encouraging Dino Rossi to run.
Also Worth noting, Benton was the next highest Republican contender losing with 38% to 50% for Murray, Didier was the next closest pulling down 34% to Murray’s 49%, while Widener came in third with 33% to Murray’s 48%. The Poll clearly shows that Patty Murray is vulnerable so long as a Republican can get their name and their message out to voters.
Here is the write-up from Rasmussen.
Democratic Senator Patty Murray holds double-digit leads on three of the top Republicans who hope to unseat her in this year’s Senate race in Washington State.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds Murray, who is expected to seek a fourth six-year term this fall, leads Republican state Senator Don Benton 50% to 38%.
Against former professional football player Clint Didier, now a private businessman active in the Tea Party movement, Murray has a 15-point lead, 49% to 34%.
The incumbent posts a 48% to 33% lead over businessman and motivational speaker Chris Widener.
In the three contests, anywhere from three (3%) to five percent (5%) prefer some other candidate and nine (9%) to 14% are undecided. An incumbent at this stage of the contest who earns less than 50% is considered potentially vulnerable.
The potential vulnerability is highlighted when Murray is matched against Dino Rossi, the unsuccessful GOP candidate in the state’s last two gubernatorial contests. Certainly the best-known of the Republicans, Rossi attracts 48% of the vote in a match-up with Murray while the incumbent earns 46%. One percent (1%) like another candidate, and five percent (5%) are undecided.
But Rossi, despite encouragement from many Republicans, says so far that he’s not interested in running for the Senate.
Here are the other candidates for the Republican nomination. Paul Akers, Don Benton, Art Coday, Clint Didier, Wayne Glover, Rod Rieger, Sean Salazar, Chris Widener, Craig Williams
The Republican Party’s Hand off Approach
The Washington Ledge’s Austin Jenkins reports that State GOP Chairman Luke Esser is taking a very hands off approach with regards to Washington’s Senatorial campaign this year. With 11 Candidates, and two or three big names on the fence I firmly believe the State Party needs to stay on the sideline and let the people decide. So far there have been four or five candidate forums with more upcoming. I think it is very productive to let the people of our state decide who is the best candidate and let the cream rise to the top.
Nonetheless, with just nine months left until the election, the political parlor game is well underway regarding who the Republican party will field to challenge Murray.
Topping the list is Rossi, the two-time gubernatorial candidate. So far he’s being coy about whether he’s even toying with the idea of running. But in a sign Rossi is considering a bid, he was a key attendee at a recent weekend gathering of Republicans on the Washington coast.
Republican Party Chair Luke Esser calls Rossi the “800 pound gorilla” candidate. Even so, Esser says he’s encouraging almost everyone who expresses an interest to run. In fact, in contrast to past years, Esser thinks this year it “might not hurt [the Republican Party] to have a primary” fight.
Could this be the Tea Party effect? Esser says, “Republicans by-and-large need the support of the Tea Party community to win” this year. And the Tea Party movement is wary of party-anointed standard-bearers. Thus Esser says Republicans this year will show “more caution in a pre-primary endorsement.”
Esser notes that for the past three races against Senator Murray, Republicans have run well-funded incumbent Congressmen to no avail. George Nethercutt in 2004, Linda Smith in 1998 and Rod Chandler in 1992.
Esser says it’s time for a new strategy. “In a year like 2010 where things are unfolding so well for Republicans … we may be able to run a non-traditional campaign.”
By that Esser means a lesser-known, grassroots style candidate who might emerge after a true primary battle in August.