UPDATED: RGA sends expectations memo, DGA responds

The Republican Governors Association, whose presence in Washington state's race has increased of late with a mocking of Chris Gregoire's Barack Obama radio ad, kept at it this morning by weighing in with their expectations for tomorrow's "top two" primary.

In the memo, the RGA echoes the Dino Rossi campaign's assertion that Republicans tend to do relatively poorly in primary elections compared to general elections.  That is a contention that the Democrats refute based on year-by-year circumstances. Still, the national group goes even further than local Republicans and suggests that GOP candidates enjoy an eleven point positive swing from the primary to the general election in Washington state.

Beyond that the RGA is sure to mention that moving on to November is the sole purpose of this primary, and further speculates that, aside from the historical data, the key point to focus on in the top two primary is its path-clearing quality.

Notably, they say that getting rid of third parties will help Rossi particularly because it will keep Washington's significant Libertarian Party vote out of the general election.

"The primary will help Rossi by clearing the race of other candidates who would capture the anti-Gregoire vote," the memo says.

They cite the Libertarian Party candidate in 2004, Ruth Bennett, who received 63,000 votes that they predict would otherwise have largely gone to Rossi.  Bennett was the only third party candidate on the ballot that year.

UPDATE: The Democratic Governors Association responded to their counterpart's memo. See below for more.

Nathan Daschle, the executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, responded to the RGA memo by writing to them directly. In a taunting memo reminiscent of Washington's own Luke Esser, Daschle mocked the Republicans for trying to establish themselves as the underdog while he accused them of simultaneously running an all-out effort to run up their vote totals.

"Cheer up; the Republican- sorry, "G.O.P. Party" - candidate has been running a very aggressive GOTV operation for several weeks," the memo said. "As someone who has run and lost before, Rossi understands that this is one opportunity to gain momentum in an otherwise lackluster campaign. What's more, his supporters have run over $2 million in television ads in anticipation of this primary, nearly $1 million of which was spent in the last week. Considering that Rossi is strongest in areas with vote-by-mail, I think you should feel very good about his chances tomorrow."