OLYMPIA — Bracing for the final round of a tough re-election contest, Gov. Chris Gregoire has a little party business to take care of first: She’s heading to the Democratic National Convention as a delegate for Barack Obama.
Republican challenger Dino Rossi, however, won’t be on hand to see John McCain collect the GOP presidential nomination early next month. Instead, Rossi’s hitting the road in Washington, trying to scare up enough votes to unseat Gregoire.
He’s not alone. Several Republican U.S. senators facing re-election contests also are skipping the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn., where a highly unpopular President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will make final appearances.
Democrats say it’s a clear sign Rossi is trying to hide his party identity in a blue-leaning state. They also point to his primary ballot affiliation, “Prefers GOP Party,” and local polling that indicates a quarter of registered voters were clueless about the Republican nickname.
Rossi’s campaign, of course, calls the Democrats’ theory hogwash.
When Republicans convene on Sept. 1, Rossi will instead be focusing on the battleground at hand — an appearance at the Black Diamond Labor Day parade, followed by fundraisers in Pasco and Olympia. He also plans a fundraiser with Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal next month.
“There’s no votes in Minnesota,” spokeswoman Jill Strait told The Associated Press on Thursday. “We felt his time would be better spent on the ground here in Washington state.”
True enough. But it’s also a relatively easy political decision to avoid sharing a roof with the Bush administration, which is mired in very low approval ratings.
If it were just a question of appearing with McCain, attending the convention would be safer for Rossi, Western Washington University political scientist Todd Donovan said.
McCain built his national profile by crossing the political aisle and sometimes spurning Republican orthodoxy — the kind of playbook that works for statewide GOP candidates in Washington, where there’s a sizable contingent of self-identified independent voters, Donovan said.
“(McCain’s) not polling too bad here. Nobody thinks he’s going to win it, but he’s not as polarizing as George Bush,” Donovan said. “Those Republicans that can make a claim of crossing party lines have always done really well in Washington.”
In fact, Donovan said, Senate or governor candidates usually aren’t too overt about tying their campaign to the party’s presidential standard-bearer.
That doesn’t mean Gregoire is shy about her allegiance to Obama. Gregoire was a relatively early endorser of the Illinois senator, and appeared onstage with him in a packed Seattle NBA arena during Obama’s February caucus swing through Washington.
Obama’s wife, Michelle, has raised money for Gregoire, and Obama has appeared in a pro-Gregoire radio ad and mailer. After Tuesday’s primary election, in which Gregoire leads Rossi by about four percentage points, the governor was readily pitching herself as Obama’s strong partner.
“They all see the polls — he’s popular in Washington. It’s not going to hurt to have the connection there,” Donovan said.
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