Publicola claims Dino Rossi has finally managed to hire a campaign manager, and will announce his candidacy next week. Huh. We’ll see.
But the speculation gets me thinking.
If Rossi runs, it’s only because he thinks he has a pretty damn good chance of winning, but getting in this late, he’ll have no chance to make this race competitive without an awful lot of independent expenditures on his behalf… you know, 10 to 20 million dollars or so.
So one can only assume that he wouldn’t jump into this race without assurances of substantial independent expenditure campaigns, but, if he already has these assurances, they won’t really be all that independent, now will they?
What they will be is financed almost exclusively by out-of-state interests. National organizations like the ever-meddling U.S. Chamber, or shady, swift-boat-veterans-like groups fronting for wealthy business interests and ultra-right-wing ideologues. You won’t see the Washington Association of Realtors spending big money championing Rossi, or local companies like Boeing or Microsoft. Hell, you won’t even see the lying bastards at the BIAW play much in this race.
Yes, if Rossi jumps in, it’s because he’s damn confident that out-of-state interests will fulfill their promise to spend big money to take out Washington’s senior Senator and the power and influence she brings to the citizens of Washington state. Watch for it.
Everything in his life seems to be all about money. If he see’s a significant Rossi payday he’ll run, regardless of any other consideration.
LMFAO.
Rossi: 24
Murray: 2
ya, because democratic candidates dont get any out of state money at all….
Look for Rove’s American Action Network, his new not-party or movement campaign ATM. In France & Spain “Action” plus the country name was the handle for far right and sometimes outright monarchist parties, and in Mexico it’s a rightist party. The conservatives, always glad to import cheap labor and looney ideas, but rational thought, never.
I look forward to the primary.
Dino’s for what any Republican wants: privatizing Medicare, blocking financial reform, passing bigoted immigration laws, and repealing healthcare rights for people under 26. What’s not to like?
@2
The Democrats have a candidate, there’s nothing to blog about. Plus, HA’s always been weighted towards the opposition anyway.
I found the Publicola post intriguing since just last Thursday Rossi notified two potential staffers that their work wouldn’t be needed since he had decided not to run.
Well, look at the bright side, boys: it’s another case of the wingnuts wasting money on races they won’t win. This money could’ve gone to much more competitive races, but when you think about it, how R fundraising monies seem to go everywhere but the actual campaigns, you start to wonder who’s taking how much of that money and just putting it in their pockets….
2 Dr Dre
You seem to have missed the qualifer: “almost exclusively”
What does your weird and cryptic number thing mean? The way I read it, it’s more like:
Patty Murray: 3 (terms as US Senator)
Dino Rossi: 0 (statewide elections ever won)
@8: Good one!
@5…nothing to blog about? really? wow..
@8…I know your type is pretty simple daddy lover, but damn….
see if you can figure it out…I know your a big boy…well kidna…
11 Dr Dre
Too late. I already one-upped you.
But if that’s your thing: refusing to answer a simple, direct question, and using the opportunity to taunt, then I’ve got no use for you.
@12..ya, not so much….
@11: Simple-minded, yes, that is Dre to a tee.
Have you ever actually THOUGHT about something deeply Dre?
We have yet to see it. Just superficial third-grade level crap – that is all you post.
@14…..awwww, Im feeling the love…
have you ever thought about being anything other than a lemming?
@10
Not at this point. We’ve got our candidate. She’s got plenty of cash and a record of winning races by fat margins. The R’s have a primary chock full of crazies, no cash, and their top candidate may or may not be in the race. So yeah, the R’s are the topic of the day, not the D’s.
If Flossy Rossi gets his dough
Karl Rove will run the show
[Deleted — see HA Comment Policy]
The main point that the wingnuts are missing is that dissatisfaction with congress is not going to translate into votes for Republicans.
The dissatisfaction is over the fact that congress is not progressive enough. Look for progressive Democrats to consolidate their gains in the upcoming election.
@19 The main point that the wingnuts are missing
Thanks for the insight, headless.
I sure don’t see Rossi, even with OOS money, coming anywhere close to Patty’s money. He’ll be an underdog in that department for sure.
ANd re: 19, I don’t see a lot of anti-incumbent sentiment out there yet. The only incumbents who got squashed were Republicans. I mean, really Arlen Specter is 80 and never was a Democrat until like yesterday.
21: The anti-incumbency “fever” seems to be primarily in the minds of the far ends of both parties. Most people like their own Congressman, it’s the “other guys” they don’t like.
Alan Specter is an exception. He came into office as a Democrat, switched to Republican in time to capitalize on the 1968 “law and order” swing back towards the Republicans, and he then switched back to being a Democrat when he saw the size of the tidal wave coming at him in 1998. At his age, and with his fence-straddling, it’s quite possible he couldn’t win a primary in either party this time around. But that’s just going to make it that much more difficult for the Republicans to win the seat in the general election. They’ve taken away someone who might have some real power in the Senate as a senior member of the majority party, and replaced him with someone who, at best, would be a freshman runt of a minority party. Talk about voting against your own self-interest.
Hi Mark @ 3
I believe you’re referring to Rove’s American Crossroads PAC. Rolling Stone had a pretty good overview.
Rove Rides Again: Bush’s former strategist is secretly seizing control of the GOP – and amassing $135 million to destroy the Democrats
In brief, the supreme’s recent ruling that corporations can give directly to campaigns enabled Rove to fund an operation that’s a party in all but name, without funding limits. The author also makes the point that Rove and Gillispie are making a direct play to oust the real power away from Steele.
I have no idea what to think of this. Infighting, inside politics, blah, blah, blah. Yea, it’s a lot of money. And yea, the centralized control will mean it’s more effective.
But three things occur to me.
– It’s hard to polish a turd. Their candidates kind of suck. And they don’t have a platform.
– The conservative operatives seems more likely to line their own pockets than do anything constructive with the money. (I love how they fleece their own supporters. Hannity pocketed the money intended for vets. A huge fraction of the Tea Party donations went to consultants. Etc.)
– The internecine warfare hasn’t been resolved with control of the Republican brand name firmly established. The Tea Party insurgents are still a challenge that cannot be ignored.