Republican Gov. Rob McKenna.
Better start getting used to it.
When Washington’s last Republican governor left office, Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” was the number one song in America.
And since that governor’s term expired in January 1985, there’s been a whole generation of voters
born and raised. Today, nearly 470,000 registered voters have never experienced life under a Republican executive in this state.
Now comes McKenna, the state’s Republican attorney general, looking to end his party’s losing streak.
His 2012 campaign for governor begins heavily freighted with expectations, yet he’s better positioned to meet them than GOP candidates before him.
Democrats know it and they’re already sweating.
McKenna’s won two statewide races plus three contests in King County, which means a lot of people know his name. His brand of Republicanism doesn’t scare off — and may even attract — pragmatic independent voters whose swelling numbers make them a decisive bloc each election.
You can get a sense of his broader appeal from the results of the 2004 and 2008 elections. Both times McKenna collected more votes than the Republican candidate for president — George W. Bush in 2004 and John McCain in 2008.
He also did better both times than Dino Rossi, the GOP candidate for governor who received support from moderates who traditionally back Democrats.
McKenna is no Rossi, which is not a slam on Dino but recognition that Democrats can’t use the same strategy next year that they used in the last two gubernatorial elections.
As a lawyer, McKenna’s well bred to debate and he likes doing so. Should Democrats blast him on an issue, they better have their facts in order because McKenna will respond in force. That’s unlike Rossi whose frequent two-steps around difficult questions provided Democrats a constant avenue for attack.
That’s not to say there are no reasons why McKenna could lose next year.
His role in the national legal fight to toss out the federal health care law could cost him votes. And his insistence that state government workers be squeezed harder to do more will rile up the forces of organized labor.
Then there’s the matter of President Barack Obama. If Obama’s re-election campaign succeeds in organizing and electrifying the Democratic base as it did in 2008, that will be a significant boost for whomever the Democrats put up for governor.
And if that person is U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., he’ll value every extra watt of power the president can provide in getting out the vote, because the race for governor will be close. Republicans remember losing a few tight contests last fall because of the Democrats’ late push to turn out the vote.
Finally, let’s face it, McKenna’s a Republican. It’s been a generation since any of his political kind held this office. That’s a long time.
The state seems primed for a Republican in the governor’s mansion.
Political reporter Jerry Cornfield’s blog, The Petri Dish, is at www.heraldnet.com. Contact him at 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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