Would you be surprised that a rematch of the closest Governor's race in our nation's history has both sides pouring money into the contest?

You shouldn't.

Joel Connelly evidently is. That damn thing called free speech sure does let people spend money on politics. The temerity of such scoundrels!

Yes, it is a lot of money. For good reason. And at least with the current PDC website, anyone with half a brain and a little bit of time can figure out a lot about who is supporting whom. Lord knows Connelly and company in the MSM have been sure to tell us every time BIAW steps up to the plate.

More importantly, Connelly laments the supposed downside of the importance of money in politics. Does he advocate for higher contribution limits so individual fundraising events and/or gratuitous independent expenditures become less necessary? No.

Nowhere in there does he point out that the record-setting sum of 52,000+ donors to Dino Rossi's campaign is a grassroots phenonemon the likes of which has never been seen in Washington state politics. Excluding contributions from the party, the Rossi campaign's average contribution is roughly $89 and change. A high-dollar donor base this is not.

In omitting those facts, Connelly excluded an important data point that runs utterly contrary to the notion that money spoils political campaigns. In Rossi's case the campaign isn't driven (or limited) by fundraising, it's riding the wave of it...and enthusiastic support that is literally coming out of the woodwork.

In other news of omission, Connelly notes the netroots donor base ([cough] from outside the district [cough]) fueling Darcy Burner's Congressional campaign, in contrast with $400,000 in pro-Reichert spending from the business community.

Left undiscussed: the more than $1 million committed to the race by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, money that has already started to flow.

It's easier to be outraged when not all the available facts are presented.

UPDATE: The Times has a decent rundown of who is pumping what funds into the race. I haven't had a chance yet to dig into the weeds of the glut of PDC reports filed yesterday filling out all these numbers, but it's more clear than ever we have a once in a generation political contest on our hands here.