RGA, Gregoire camp tussle over record, expectations

The Republican Governor's Association went after Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire's most recent radio ad today, which features Sen. Barack Obama calling for the type of change in government Gregoire has produced in her first term.

The RGA begs to differ. In addition to mocking Barack Obama for vacationing in his home state of Hawaii and speaking to European audiences, they question his judgment in supporting Gregoire by hitting the governor on the topics state Republicans have been using to make their case against her, namely her negotiations with state tribes, a lack of results on certain road projects and the projected budget deficit.

"Does he support Gregoire negotiating with state employees while taking their campaign contributions and getting a payoff from Indian tribes for not making them pay their fair share of the state's budget?" asked RGA Executive Director Nick Ayers. "Gregoire's desperate and thinks Obama's celebrity status can distract voters from her record."

The Gregoire camp responded later the same day, using the attack to tie Dino Rossi to President George W. Bush, citing that Bush has raised $10 million for the RGA. 

"When the going gets tough, Republican Dino Rossi sends in his D.C. Republican insiders to attack Barack Obama and Gov. Gregoire," said Aaron Toso, press secretary for the Gregoire campaign. "While Washington state continues to make real progress during tough times, the last thing we need is a Bush Republican like Rossi leading the state."

Gregoire's campaign also used the press release to set its own expectations for next week's primary. They cite $2 million in negative advertising from the Building Industry Association of Washington and claim that Republicans are "aggressively doorbelling and turning out the vote for the primary" from "behind the scenes."

The RGA release claimed that Democratic gubernatorial candidates tend to outpoll Republicans by 20 percent in Washington state primaries, and Rossi's camp released a memo yesterday lowering expectations for next Tuesday.

"It is ironic the Rossi campaign continues to dramatically lower expectations for the primary. Republican Dino Rossi has banked his campaign on the empty horserace rhetoric of a ‘dead heat,' ‘neck-and-neck,' and being ‘virtually tied,'" the release says. "Given the nature of the electorate, Rossi enjoys a substantial advantage because his strongholds are all vote-by-mail, which tends to dramatically increase turnout, unlike Gregoire's key areas, where poll voting generally yields less turnout in the primary."