Joel Connelly's latest column has his take on the possible gubernatorial rematch between Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi in 2008. Basically it is a list of what advantages and disadvantages both candidates go into the race possessing.
Curiously, Connelly couldn't come up with the main disadvantage facing Christine; a sizable portion of the population is still madder than a bag of wet bobcats over having their vote nullified in 2004. Sure this is listed as a Rossi advantage. But whoever the GOP chooses as their candidate, the issue will adversely affect the sitting governor. Besides Rossi hasn't officially declared yet... (Don writes while chortling, barely with straight face).
Granted, some individuals don't give a flying fig about military and overseas ballots not counted (or not mailed at all). Or that mismarked ballots destined for the over-vote stack were divined for voter intent by the King County Canvassing Board with a curiously significant number breaking for Gregoire while similarly mismarked ballots in favor of Rossi and Ruth Bennett got tossed. Or any of the number of other unique characteristics of the 2004 recount. But some do and they'll remember when filling in the arrows on their ballots next fall.
Suffice to say many of the advantages listed in the column are in fact disadvantages and vice versa. You can debate their accuracy.
Be forewarned that some of the items are completely irrelevant. Kind of doubt that voters care about employment turnover amongst Gregoire's flacks or office politics in Olympia very much. They will probably be more concerned about highways which haven't seen improvement since before the movie Wargames was filmed here or the unwillingness by the state to deal with convicted felons and sexual predators.
Similarly it is highly unlikely that former KIRO commentator Lou Guzzo's support will be adverse for Rossi. Well, not unless Dino was planning to court fans of local punk band The Dehumanizers. Although it is curious to see out-of-state "progressives" move here and then try to trash one of Democratic governor Dixy Lee Ray's former aides.
Stefan is usually the one who takes point on debating Connelly so I am remiss. Normally he would have already added an alliterative pejorative such as "contumelious". Or is it cantankerous? Curmudgeonly? Ceramic casting? One of those adjectives that begin with the letter "C" in front of columnist Connelly's name.
I'd rather not. And won't. No, not even after JC devoted two paragraphs to a certain "popular GOP-aligned Web Site" where "nasty personal attacks are a signature feature".
Now when I read that remark my first thought was that name-calling Patrick Bell at "Respectfully Republican" was not at all a nice thing to do. But upon further reflection I'd hazard the slight was intended against Sound Politics.
This seems a bit of a stretch. Far from being "viscerally negative" I think the shenanigans we pull here at Sound Politics are cheeky and fun. At least in comparison to the cruel and tragic shenanigans of the local progressive blogs no one reads. Well, one is read...
Now, I know that at least my prose is well-liked by Joel - he told me so himself - so I guess there's no accounting for taste. Maybe by "nasty" he's comparing us to the Nasty Boys bullpen of the 1990 Cincinnati Reds. If so I call dibs on Norm Charlton. Stefan and Eric can arm wrestle over who gets to be Rob Dibble or Randy Myers. Sadly that means Jim Miller or Andy McDonald has to get stuck with being Bobby Ayala.
No, by "nasty" I'm almost positive Connelly means the Janet Jackson song by the same name which, according to a few of my friends on the PI staff, JC sings with frequent regularity.
Oh You Nasty Boys.
Maybe if he worked in dentistry...
Posted by: Michele on September 24, 2007 09:20 PMRossi will lose and lose big unless he swears off of the bizarre radical republican fantasies.
I vote for you man but will nwver so so inless he dumps Guzzo and Bush.
Posted by: SeattleJew on September 24, 2007 10:16 PMThat's just it, Rossi doesn't have to say a word about 2004, and if he's smart, he won't.
But there are many of us who know that Bill Huennekens said "we shouldn't have counted those ballots" in reference to many provisionals that were not properly authenticated. Even if you take out the provisionals, the felon votes, etc., there were a lot of ballots registered to storage facilities. It does not take a rocket scientist to consider the possibility that a moonbat might want to double dip in the second term Bush Presidential election, and especially one with a close gubernatorial race.
And remember, it's really all down to the privacy of the voting booth. There were many mistakes made, and they were specifically suppressed or unknown until after certification. In the minds of many voters, there is not a requirement of reasonable doubt to cast judgement, but merely a preponderance of the the evidence.
Posted by: Jeff B. on September 24, 2007 10:34 PM2. OK .. Rossi can run on a ticket with Lou Guzzo. Gregoire will be happy.
Posted by: SeattleJew on September 24, 2007 11:49 PMFigs fly? I tell ya, I learn something new every time I visit this blog.
But what I haven't learned is why you guys spend so much time on the contumelious "columnist" Joel Connelly. Who is Joel Connelly, anyway, other than a name connected to an address that votes a couple more times than it should?
If you truly want to demonstrate the superiority of your ideas, you must take on the strongest arguments of your opponents, not the weakest. If David had slain not Goliath, but instead Goldramug, the one-legged, arthritic, asthmatic, 78 year-old, sandal-polishing attendant of Goliath, who would have been impressed? Like the attack of the French knights on the English baggage boys at Agincourt, it would not have been called battle, but murder.
Likewise, true glory in intellectual combat starts with selecting an honorable and worthy adversary. An unabashed liberal, but a gentleman of the finest honor, the most studious attention to facts, the most impeccable logic, and a willingness to concede freely any points fairly scored against him.
Hmmmm.
Crap, I see your dilemma. Until such an opponent can be found, I suppose Connelly will have to do. But as soon as such a person may be found, please drop all attention to Connelly, and links to that "newspaper" of his: whenever I unthinkingly click on a link to it, my web browser always complains afterward of feeling "dirty and ashamed."
Posted by: TB on September 24, 2007 11:52 PMYou are right. I used voting booth figuratively, but the reality is, that all mail balloting is here. And it will also provide more cover for those who want to attempt fraud. I wasn't delving in to that, but I fully agree, that's another huge problem with our elections. Frankly, I think there should be photo ID required, voting only at polling locations, dye applied to the hand of each voter after they have finished voting, and universal suffrage based on basic competency.
Not sure how one would implement that last one, but I find it disgusting when candidates go in to churches the Sunday before an election and whip up the congregation with a fire-and-brimstone sermon and a reminder as to who to vote for come Tuesday. If people are not competent enough to make their own informed choices, then they should not be voting. And remembering the slickest ad, or Rock The Vote speech is no substitute for one's own knowledge of the voter pamphlet.
Posted by: Jeff B. on September 25, 2007 12:09 AMTB, SP doesn't concentrate on Connelly to the effect of missing other good targets. It is just he has so many articles and has been exposed as a hypocrite.
If you recall, he had several voters registered at his weekend retreat on Whidbey and they weren't him or his immediate family. Then he talks about truth, justice and ethics in the next article. Think about it.
As the election season heats up, take a look at what Gregoire has been doing to loosen up the party for Clinton. Suing Bush over children's care is the latest unless the feds give Gregoire more money and expand the give-away program.
Posted by: swatter on September 25, 2007 06:41 AMI just don't see the vast umbers of rather uniformed and nonpolitical types caring all that much, which is what you need to have it actually matter.
As for Lou, hes a nut. The effect it will have is also likely meaningless as the people who know about him and Rossi are likely informed and engaged, and therefore likely committed already to a candidate.
What will matter is the overall tone of the year, i.e. dem year/rep year. The effectiveness of the campaign, and whether Gregoire can distill her accomplishments into easily understood sound bites or conversely, Rossi her failures.
Posted by: Giffy on September 25, 2007 08:26 AMHe'd best stay away from global warming denial. Seems scientists', as well as the public's consensus has been reached, and turns out, it's real, and not just another plot by the tree-huggers!.
That leaves transportation and abortion- oops, the citizenry has been pretty clear about supporting both of those. Besides, should Dino get embroiled in such real-time issues? He hasn't yet, and that's helped him.
I doubt opposing all mail voting will be the winner for you guys- even if the Council rejects it, nearly 80% of voters have already accepted it, and use it.
What a quandary for Republicans- there's nothing left to be against!
Maybe a rousing gubernatorial campaign against the P-I, and Joel Connelly might work: but will "contumelious" play in Omak?
Bobcats aside, Don, sure hope you won't delete my post this time, even if I must point out that "frequent regularity" is redundant.
Those two candidates might be worth 2 or 3% to Rossi.
Just a thought. :)
Posted by: Bruce Guthrie on September 25, 2007 04:08 PMThe problem is the Republican party in this state is so fractured between the business side, the anti-tax/libertarian, and the religious fundmentalist sides, that a career administrator can make the race close. Republican party, wake up. Decide what you are really for. Your real strength is business opportunities. The way to fix the transportation mess would be for a Republican candidate to come out and say what is really needed. We need business diversification across the state. We need a business plan to develop jobs in other regions than downtown Seattle. The strength of Washington is to strengthen business in all communities, not move all jobs to one central spot. Think about it. Do we really want our whole economy to rest on an earthquake prone, transportation nightmare that is downtown Seattle. We should support port development at Tacoma, Aberdeen and Vancouver. These places tied to decent rail and highways systems could move overseas trade freight just as well as Seattle. This would be improving highways along the Columbia, improving rail from Tacoma, and improving Centralia/Chehalis and Hwy 12 over White Pass.
In addition to port operations, there needs to be improvement in other industries. Instead of Microsoft looking at office in downtown Seattle, why not in other areas, like Bellingham, Wenachee, Yakima, and Vancouver. We should promote more the Silicon Orchard development east of Wenachee.
There are plenty of good ideas a Republican candidate could tap. To me Rossi was weak and acted like a used car salesman. I didn't believe a word of what he was selling. Is he the best Republicans can offer?
Posted by: tc on September 25, 2007 07:25 PMEasy. The voters were in a mood to give an alternative a chance.
Rossi's campaign took advantage by taking the Rovian route - pose as a moderate and decorate your image with bright and shiny colors.
Rossi sold himself like a Century 21 or Windemere sells a home buyer their first house.
Gregoire's campaign by comparison was lackluster and colorless - it reminded voters of Locke's term in office which by technocratic standards was fairly successful - it just didn't tug on the heartstrings.
The Rossi real estate strategy worked with a lot of Dem voters but eventually they caught on and started learning about his extremist (BIAW) backing and record. That's what made it so close. Rossi had all the advantages but couldn't maintain his PR campaign well enough to take it over the goal line.
He has no chance in 2008. People are on to him. The Kerry voters in 2004 who gave Rossi a chance are in no way going to make the same mistake twice.