Dems attack Rossi on McCain support post-tanker deal

The state Democratic Party is continuing its series of attacks on Dino Rossi in the absence of a formal Chris Gregoire campaign. Today the Democrats took Rossi to task for supporting John McCain in spite of his alleged interference with the Air Force tanker contract that was awarded to France-based EADS over 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. "While Gov. Gregoire has sharply criticized the contract that shipped Washingtonians' jobs overseas and supported an appeal of the decision, Rossi hasn't uttered a word."

The release, which refers to McCain as a "Washington job-killer", cites Rossi's support for McCain from a February 21 article in the Aberdeen Daily World. In it, Rossi acknowledged McCain's support for his 2004 campaign and said, "If John McCain's the nominee, he's my guy and it looks like he's going to be the nominee."

The release also cites a figure from the Everett Herald that states that the contract loss will cost Washington 9,000 manufacturing jobs.

The Rossi campaign has not given the Politicker a comment on McCain's actions in the tanker deal.