EVERETT — Dino Rossi marked a year of formal campaigning for governor Saturday with a morning stop in Everett, where energized supporters cheered his pledge to bring fiscal restraint and a new political order to state government.
Rossi, the Republican challenger to Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire, asked for their help to round up votes in the election’s final days by making phone calls, knocking on doors and chatting with those they meet.
“We are in a statistical dead heat. Every vote counts,” Rossi told the crowd of 125 people packed inside the campaign’s Broadway office. “There are plenty of people out there who don’t feel represented — and why, with your help, we’re going to win, again.”
For the most part, Rossi delivered his disciplined stump speech touching on public safety, transportation and, most of all, the state’s economic outlook.
He said the main topic through Election Day will be the “fiscal train wreck that Christine Gregoire created,” he said.
Washington faces a $3.2 billion deficit because of Gregoire’s “reckless” spending, he said. He vowed to cut spending and predicted “she’s going to raise your taxes” to solve the problem.
Gregoire, who will hold a campaign rally at the Lynnwood Convention Center this afternoon, has repeatedly said she will not raise taxes to balance the budget. She has said Rossi is making a false allegation to scare voters.
Everett was the first of five rallies Saturday for Rossi, who announced his candidacy a year ago in Issaquah, setting up a rematch that’s been much anticipated in Washington and closely watched around the country.
In 2004, Rossi and Gregoire locked horns in the closest gubernatorial election in state history. He led after the initial count of ballots and a machine recount of them. But she emerged the victor following a third tally, by hand, of nearly 3 million ballots. A subsequent court case upheld her 133-vote win.
Snohomish County voted for Rossi, ending a two-decade run of voter majorities backing Democratic candidates for the office.
Scott and Michele Suchan of Everett voted for Rossi then and donated a little money. They attended Saturday and stayed to make phone calls to potential voters.
“The election was close. We figured that if we can get off the dime and do a little bit more, it won’t take that much more” for him to win, said Scott Suchan, an Everett native. “I didn’t think he was going to win then. This time I think he can.”
They are part of what Rossi described as a “citizens movement” driven by hundreds more volunteers and thousands more donors than four years ago.
Bob Williams of Monroe, a staunch Republican, said energy levels are tangibly greater.
“Within our base there’s a lot more enthusiasm because we feel his victory is in reach,” he said. “I think we’ll get a lot more support from independent voters than we did in 2004 because we have four years of Governor Gregoire.”
The event visit brought Washington State Labor Council members out to demonstrate. Several stood on the sidewalk waving signs protesting Rossi’s support of a lower minimum wage for teenagers.
They wore black shirts emblazoned with Republican Governor’s Association on the back and the initials of the Building Industry Association of Washington on the front. These two groups are spending in excess of $10 million combined against Gregoire.
“We just want people to know that we don’t want special interests to buy this election,” said Kathy Cummings, communications director of the state labor council.
When reminded labor unions are viewed as a special interest, too, she said: “They want to call us special interests. Unions represent working families and Rossi doesn’t even mention working families in his comments.”
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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