September 15, 2008 - 5:54am
Opinion

Rossi riding reverse coattails?

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.

WALLY EDGE can be reached via email at politickerwa@aol.com.
Related topics: Christine Gregoire, Dino Rossi

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