Quote of the Day

People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Gregoire and her political operatives have been shamelessly trying to smear Dino since before our campaign even began. The Washington Education Association ran radio attack ads against Dino in February, the Democratic Governor’s Association and local unions have put more than $800,000 into the new Evergreen Progress PAC that will undoubtedly be used to attack Dino, and the State Democratic Party sends out almost daily press releases filled with distortions. Is Gregoire suddenly going to take a stand against all of these groups? I wouldn’t count on it.

- Dino Rossi spokesperson Jill Strait, June 19, 2008

Neither would I. There are no rules in a knife fight. And the 2008 Washington gubernatorial race is going to be as bitter of a political knife fight as you can imagine. There will be no prizes for Miss (or Mr.) Congeniality.

Eric Earling at Sound Politics is calling for those responsible for the "Don't Let Seattle Steal This Election" sign to knock it off. I completely disagree. It's effective. It will put ballots in the box. I'd like to get a thousand of them to put up in Whitman County. Does anyone doubt that the leftists would not use a similar tactic if the situation was reversed? If Rossi wins what promises to be a very close election again, it won't be by playing to the delicate sensibilities of the latte liberals in the Emerald City.

Dislike of Seattle's one party rule is a VERY valid campaign issue here in Eastern Washington, and it's not just a bad taste left over from 2004. The disaffection is not limited to mouth-breathing wingnuts. Moderates, like Eastern Washington's most respected business leader Ed Schweitzer are fed up too. Remember how the imperious Puget Sound Dems tried to push through legislation this past session concerning global warming and the environment that would have very adversely affected us? I won't even get into the Department of Ecology's business-killing stormwater regulations that have created great antipathy among Eastern Washington's smaller cities. Dems can say "One Washington" all they want, but that doesn't play outside downtown Spokane. The "Cascade Curtain" is wider and deeper than ever before as Queen Christine fiddles while issues like the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the WASL burn.

The Queen's press conference was simply a vain attempt to draw public attention away from the simmering scandal of Wampumgate that is about to overtake her floundering campaign.