"Rossi says he'd be tough on crime, easy on business"

More on Dino Rossi's visit to SEL from KLEW TV below. Click here to find a link to a video report on Dino's visit.

PULLMAN - He lost by just 129 votes the last time around. Now, Dino Rossi is geared up and ready to try once again to become Washington's governor.

Tuesday, the Republican candidate visited Pullman, talking to locals and visiting the city's industrial park. Rossi said his family has lived in Washington for over 100 years, and now he has big plans for his home state.

"I want to turn Washington state into an entrepreneurial state," he said. "So, if people have a product or service that someone else wants, they want to risk their family's entire financial future, I want them to think of Washington state as the place to go."

Rossi toured the manufacturing building at Schweitzer Tuesday. He said so far, he has met with great success in his campaign.

"We are so far ahead of where we thought we would be at this point in time," Rossi said. "Last time, we had maybe eight people volunteer in the first week of the campaign in '04. This time, we had a thousand people over the website. We've almost caught up to the incumbent with cash on hand and we did that in six and a half months, what took her three and a half years to do. I haven't called a single lobbyist, it's all real people."

Rossi said he won't forget about the eastern side of the state if elected and that east-siders have the power to sway an election.

"Seattle is only nine percent of the state’s population," he said. "Eastern Washington is about 22 percent of the state's population. Twice as big. You've got the tail wagging the dog first off, but here's the problem - 84 percent of the people who were registered to vote in Seattle showed up and voted. In central and eastern Washington, it was 80 percent. That four percent doesn't sound like much, but that's another 23,000 more votes that could come from central and eastern Washington. And, you folks over here could control every single election if you want to."

Rossi said he has an easy to remember phrase about his run for governor.

"I want to make Washington state the worst place in America to be a criminal and the best place in America to start a business," he said. "How about that?