Democrats greet McCain with video, plane

On the day that Republican presidential candidate John McCain comes to Washington for the first time since becoming the GOP's presumptive nominee, the state Democratic Party is doing its best to run interference on his visit. Today they released a video highlighting Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi's reference to McCain as "my guy" in an Aberdeen Daily World article earlier this year along with the Air Force tanker contract that McCain helped guide to a foreign competitor of Boeing.

"Republican Dino Rossi has demonstrated that his partisan GOP allies in Washington DC are more important than standing up for thousands of jobs here in Washington state," said Washington State Democratic Party Chair Dwight Pelz in a press release. "While Gov. Gregoire has sharply criticized the contract that shipped our jobs overseas and supported an appeal of the decision, Rossi stands by his man - further evidence that Washingtonians simply can't trust Rossi with our future."

Particularly, they highlight McCain calling the Boeing Air Force tanker bid "bogus" in a National Public Radio interview, and try to make a visual connection between Rossi, McCain and President George W. Bush. The video shows clips of news broadcasts showing McCain's words along with local Democrats criticizing the decision. There are also pictures of Rossi immediately followed by a photo of Bush and McCain embracing while the song "Open Arms" by Journey plays in the background.

As a second act, the Washington State Democratic Party chartered a plane to fly around the Seattle area from 1-4 PM carrying a banner that reads, "John McCain = 100 More Years in Iraq." The words refer to McCain's claim that he had no qualms with American troops remaining in Iraq as a part of a peace keeping presence. Democrats also hope the prop is reminiscent of George W. Bush's ill-fated "Mission Accomplished" banner from five years ago.

Such brazen tactics didn't exactly sit well with Republicans on a day when John McCain was in town to talk about environmental policy.

"It's a great way to fight global warming," State Republican Party spokesman Patrick Bell said sarcastically, "driving a plane around in circles."

Not to mention the weather. Unfortunately for the scheming Democrats, today is one of the cloudiest days Seattle has seen so far this spring.