Christine Gregoire

Dino Rossi says that Christine Gregoire always promises not to raise taxes during election time:

Gov. Christine Gregoire's new TV ad:

Don't-call-him-a-Republican Dino Rossi may have just scored himself up to a few extra points for November's election, so he's already a winner in our book. He's just one of this week's Winners & Losers. | CLICK HERE

The Republican Governors Association has a new ad slamming Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire:

With two recent polls now showing either a statistical tie or a slight lead for Dino Rossi, it's a very real possibility that the Republican challenger could unseat the Democratic incumbent governor, Christine Gregoire.

In what is otherwise shaping up to be a Democratic year, at least at the federal level, Washington state could buck the national trend. It's happened before.

In 2000 when George W. Bush (R) was elected president (this year was more mixed, since Democrats picked up seats in the Senate, but lost some in the House), only one incumbent governor of his own party -- Cecil Underwood of West Virginia -- was defeated by Bob Wise (D) .

Similarly in 2004, New Hampshire governor Craig Benson (R) was narrowly defeated by Democratic challenger John Lynch despite across the board Republican gains at the federal level.

A pair of polls may give Dino Rossi (R) reason to be hopeful, though those same polls offer a batch of sobering news for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). They're among this week's Winners & Losers. | CLICK HERE

If Christine Gregoire, now trailing Dino Rossi in a Rasmussen Reports poll released today, loses her bid for re-election to a second term, she will be the first incumbent Governor to get tossed by the voters since Republican John Spellman lost to Democrat Booth Gardner in 1984.  Four years earlier, Democratic Gov. Dixie Lee Ray lost the Democratic primary to now-U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, who went on to lose the general to Spellman -- and the '84 primary to Gardner.

The transcript of the Seattle Times' Andrew Garber's interviews with Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi on social issues should not be missed:

The Washington Republican Party has launched a new TV ad criticizing Gov. Christine Gregoire's record on transportation issues.