I’m no great fan of Barack Obama. His election will be historic, and he will provide both an inspiration and a desperately new face for America to the world. And he’s smart and competent. That said, he’s proven his corporate centrism on far too many issues (including, most recently, his enthusiastic backing of a $700 billion that I suspect we’ll soon come to widely acknowledge as a criminal looting of the treasury) for me to be much impressed. And Joe Biden, from his whoring for credit card companies to his war on drugs mania to his disastrous plan to partition Iraq, is a neat encapsulation of what is vile about many Senate Democrats.
But it doesn’t matter. In Washington state, our electoral votes are a foregone conclusion. The presidential race is strictly a spectator sport here. And, as Darryl has been demonstrating nightly, one with a pretty much foregone conclusion.
Similarly, I’m not all that worked up about this blog’s special obsession over the past two years, Burner/Reichert. Darcy would make a great Congressperson, and Reichert is a lousy one; I really hope she wins. But it’s not my district.
Where I (and most of us) will be most affected and can make a difference is in the race that concerns me most right now: the race for governor.
Four years ago, I did not support Christine Gregoire. I found Dino Rossi repellant, but after eight years of the execrable Gary Locke, I also had no love for yet another do-nothing centrist Democrat. I wound up voting for (and publicly endorsing) the Libertarian candidate, Ruth Bennett.
Once the election dust settled (without the help of my vote), though, a funny and very rare thing happened: I was won over by a politician who did a much, much better job than I expected.
Mind you, there’s still quite a bit I don’t agree with Christine Gregoire on. (And sorry, but if we can mock Sarah Palin’s faux-folksiness, I’m also not on board with the calculated effort to rebrand “Christine” as “Chris.”) In particular, Gregoire’s handling of the Alaskan Way Viaduct controversy has been both ham-fisted and wrong. But generally, Gregoire has been exactly what Locke was not: a leader who gets things done. She’s brought the legislature to the table and helped hammer out compromises on several key contentious issues. Her fiscal and executive management of the state, contrary to Rossi’s propaganda, has been exemplary. She balanced the budget, got voter-mandated education monies funded (unlike Locke, who simply ignored the voters); she used economic good times to invest in needed expenditures that had been slashed under Locke; and she also set aside money for the inevitable slow times that are now upon us. Does anyone doubt that, if elected, Rossi would have done none of this, electing instead — just like his party’s national leaders — to use the economic good times to simply give tax breaks to the wealthy?
Gregoire also deserves credit for respecting voters — not only by getting education funded, but also (much as it galls me) by pushing for enactment of Tim Eyman’s successful measures. The contrast couldn’t be clearer: Dino Rossi has shown time and again his contempt for voters, from his flagrant violation of campaign finance laws and his idiotic party label (“prefers GOP”) deception and his cynical effort to exploit Obama’s coattails to his fantastic (in the literal sense of the word) transportation plan to his consistent efforts to avoid fessing up to policy stances, especially on social issues, that are wildly out of step with this state’s electorate.
Even so, Rossi would not be making this race close if Gregoire’s story had been told effectively. Instead, she has proven herself in two campaigns now to be as bad a CEO for her campaign as she is good as a CEO for the state. Over the last 18 months I was repeatedly assured, by people who should know, that Gregoire’s people understood that they’d run a dreadful campaign in 2004, and that it would be fixed this time. Instead. Rossi — with an able assist from this state’s ever-pliant media — has skated by on his deceptions and a blizzard of negative ads that, until recently, have mostly gone unrefuted in any meaningful sense. Rossi has been allowed to define Gregoire and set the agenda for this campaign, an almost inconceivable feat given that Gregoire’s the incumbent. Even though Rossi is, if anything, even more repellant and dishonest than he was in 2004, Gregoire’s campaign incompetence could easily cost her the election, and us a very good governor.
But every poll shows this race within polling’s margin of error — which it certainly was in 2004 — and so even though many of us have already voted, this is one race where the next 24 hours could make all the difference. Get out the vote. Talk up the governor’s race among your friends, co-workers, relatives. Don’t let Dino Rossi’s dishonest and illegal campaigning carry the day. If it does, it not only establishes an awful precedent for how statewide campaigns are to be run, but it sets us up for a long four years in our state, years in which many people will needlessly suffer from Rossi’s budget priorities. And it will cost us the best governor we’ve had in ages.
We’re at the point in this election where the campaigning and calling and waving signs is mostly done. There is just one thing left to do.
VOTE
Go to the polls. Help your neighbor get to the polls. Your local campaign headquarters will have a sign-up sheet for volunteers to take people to the polls.
And if that grumpy old man next door that hasn’t voted for a Democrat since FDR needs a ride to the polls needs a ride, help him too.
Because on Wednesday, we need to put the partisanship behind us and get to work cleaning up the mess that the Bush administration has left us with.
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P Krugman is of the opinion that what the republicans will lose are their own moderates. Leaving a well financed hard core, with easy media access.
For them and the merry wingnuts, the phrase”legitimate democrat”is,and will always be like wolfbane to a werewolf.
I’m certainly stepping in it on this blog but:
1)What are the accomplishments?
-I agree that Locke was not a leader. But Gregoire has fallen down on so many major issues that you can’t possibly be serious. Transportation. Social funding before emergency services. DSHS.
2)
-Huh? Maybe wildly out of step with Seattle. Certainly not a majority of the state.
Let’s be clear about what the “majority” of the state is. By land mass, sure, it’s eastern washington. But by voters, it’s western washington (not by much, but increasingly so).
So if the majority of voters in Washington vote to elect Democratic Senators and representatives both Congressionally and to the state legislature, along with a Democratic governor, it is eastern washington voters who are “out of step” with the majority of the state.
But really, let’s stop dividing ourselves this way. There is a spectrum of belief across this state, and no “real” or “fake” parts of WA state. I’m tired of hearing about “Seattle liberals” or whatever boogey-man those east of the cascades would blame for their own ills. We have as much right to hold our opinions and vote as anyone else (no more, no less).
Hey, Geov: Did Fraudoire promise you some money from her Casino Kickback slush fund?
Absolutely right for Gregoire. The governor’s election could go either way, and it’s more important than most people in Washington realize. If you get a chance to help the Gregoire campaign get out the vote tomorrow, take it–they really need it, especially outside of Seattle.
There’s another statewide race in Washington that isn’t getting as much coverage. It’s the race for Commissioner of Public Lands. Incumbent Doug Sutherland has grievously mismanaged our public lands and it’ll be a tragedy if he gets another term. He’s in the pocket of the logging industry, and he’s just as corrupt as Rossi. He was involved in a workplace sexual harassment scandal (see http://www.workplacerespect.com)–another indication of his general lack of character.
The challenger is Peter Goldmark, a Dem, with a clean and solid environmental record. To me, this is a choice between apathy and environmental awareness. Sutherland is simply irresponsible and guided primarily by commercial interests; Goldmark is the candidate of choice for sustainable lands management and environmental consciousness. We have some amazing resources in Washington, and we can’t afford to let them go to waste any more.
we realy need barak to be elackted he will pay out the most mony to me and othr peopl who dont work the rich need tohelp mor and pay ther fare share dont u think? and mcain is dumb loking and that womem palen is realy somthing stuped hahaha
You sir are a douche. Ok, maybe not, but if you can only support a candidate who thinks and votes like you 100% of the time you will be very disappointed. You didn’t like Locke, so you voted for a Libertarian? Obama isn’t as far left as you are so you don’t care if he wins? Come on! There is a real and true need to support the party and it’s candidates. Fight ’em in the primaries all you like, but once they’re the nominee you know what the alternative is.
I voted for Gregoire in 04, I voted for her again this time. And though she may not be perfect, she is 1000 times better than that blow dried used car salesman sheister Rossi.
From the perspective of competence, Gregoire blows out Rossi. This race should not be close. Gregoire has done a fine job in her first term; Rossi offers nothing. How he has become such a popular figure within the state’s Republican Party is truly beyond me. He is, and this is being charitable, a complete zero.
Uh, SPG?
To whom is that tirade addressed? Geov may not be thrilled with our current candidates, but he is urging us all to support them.
Lots of folks (myself included) were pleasantly surprised by Governor Gregoire. Her performance as Attorney General was poor at best, and in that election, a legitimate case could be made that neither candidate was worthy of support.
She’s been a good governor since then, and is certainly worthy of support based on her performance.
But just having a “D” or “prefers Democratic Party” does not make a candidate automatically worthy of election. I know of two Republicans on the current ballot (no, I’m not going to say which ones) that I’m giving serious consideration to, and probably won’t make my final decision on those races until I actually go to my polling place tomorrow morning.
Just being a Democrat doesn’t require that I (or Geov) be unthinkingly enthusiastic about every candidate or position that the Democratic Party supports.
@4 Majority of what? Land doesn’t vote. King County has a third of the state’s population, the Puget Sound counties two-thirds. There’s a reason why policy issues tend to center on Pugetopolis. That’s where most of the people live and most of the taxes are paid. But for the record, Gregoire broke a 10-year GOP logjam on transportation, and hundreds of transportation projects all over the state are being built on time and on budget — local projects that directly benefit small towns, small businesses, and rural areas — and most of them are subsidized by King County drivers, who export over $125 million of gas taxes every year to the rest of the state. Only about 6 or 8 of the state’s 39 counties are self-supporting in roads and schools; the rest are subsidized by Seattle taxpayers.
@10 Gregoire is a great leader but an unskilled campaigner. Most politicians are the opposite, highly effective campaigners who don’t know what to do in office. We’re lucky to have her, but her weak political skills leave her vulnerable to a guy who, as you say, is a complete zero. It’s unbelievable that he ever got this far. He has a shady background, shady associations, no management experience, very little government experience, and offers voters nothing but ridiculous promises and empty bumper sticker slogans. The fact that someone as unqualified as Rossi can be competitive with as able a leader as Gregoire is a sad commentary on half of Washington’s electorate.
A small amount of money was put into education under Gregoire, but a fully funded K-12 system is far from reality in this state. Rossi could care less about public education. The real fixes were held pending her ability to be re-elected.
Saturday I drove on I-5 through Everett, across Highway 2 and into Monroe.
Monroe traffic was a bear, made more so because the IAM (Boeing Machinist’s Union) was voting on their new contract at the fairgrounds. But SR2 is on the hot list for upgrades over the next few years. But the ride through Everett and the SR2 tressel was a breeze, made more so by the traffic improvements on I5 through Everett thanks to Gregoire and the nickle gas tax. It’s amazing to see those broad lanes of traffice moving smoothly where just a year before traffic was backed up even on the weekend.
So that’s why I laugh every time I heard Rossi complain about taxes and nothing being done about traffic. He’s like the politician we used to laugh about when I was growing up in the South – who promises increased services and lower taxes. Even us rednecks knew you can’t get something for nothing!
@13
You left out how he looks like a pud wearing a toupee and his ears are way big.
I like to lick ears, but the hair is a turn off – I bet he sprays it a lot … Geov., you are a very good writer when you turn to, nice piece.
I do not know a soul who likes Rossie, and I think the high Dem turnout in KingCO will save Gregoire.
Also, his ads are so over the top they are backfiring …
There will be dancing in the streets in Seattle, come to the parties on C.Hill — ALL the queer bars are doing election watching with drink specials —- and I hear joints will be passing —– and quickie sex after midnight, am I telling secrets? You bet.