WA Senate: No Rossi
Written by Mark Harris on April 28th, 2005It looks like the Republicans best hope to oust Maria Cant‘well maybe she can now’win, Dino Rossi, will not run according to the King County Journal. This is bad, bad news for the Republicans as Cantwin is vulnerable if we find a good candidate. I am trying to dig up the last polls I saw on her re-elect #’s but they were bad.
Rossi, however, seemed to slam the door on that possibility Wednesday.
“I have four small children and I’m not sure how I’d make it work with the family without upheaval and difficulty for the kids. So, that really is not my focus,” Rossi told the Journal during an interview at his campaign headquarters in downtown Bellevue.
“My focus is running for governor and being governor of the state of Washington and turning the state around. So I’m not running for the U.S. Senate. I’m running for governor.”
Not everyone thinks that Rossi is immune to persuasion, however.
Chris Vance, chairman of the state Republican Party, said Wednesday that while he doesn’t think Rossi will run, others may not take his “no” at face value.
“There are people and organizations who will want to change his mind,” Vance said. “The senate campaign committee will try to persuade him otherwise.
“I don’t think this will be the start of serious campaigning for the U.S. Senate until the court situation in Wenatchee becomes clear.”
In addition to his role as state party chairman, Vance has been mentioned as a possible candidate for U.S. Senate. Other possible candidates include former U.S. Rep. Rick White and insurance company executive Mike McGavick, chairman and CEO of Safeco.
Again this goes back to an earlier post I made that I bet many Republican Senators are regretting electing Liddy Dole as the Chairwoman of the NRSC, as they have had a series of recruiting screw ups.
H/T: Red State
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They failed to recruit Congresswoman Candice MIller to run in Michigan. That was a shame since Miller could eat Stabenow alive.
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As a Washingtonian, I can tell you that Rossi’s decision is incumbent upon his ongoing court case. Last night I was at dinner with Ward Connerly and a prominent radio host in the area who had just been talking with John Fund of the WSJ, and the consensus seems to be that Rossi has a very good chance of winning the court case. From a purely political standpoint, it’s good for him to at least say he’s not running for the U.S. Senate. If he does lose the case, we really expect him to get into the Senate race.
As for other possible candidates, Mike McGavik of Safeco would be an excellent choice. Not only an excellent businessman, but he actually got his start in politics, serving as Chief of Staff for Sen. Slade Gorton many years ago. He also raised a ton of money for GOP candidates in the past cycle. Personally though, if I was a CEO raking in $5 million a year, I’m not sure I’d want to leave to go spend my time with Ted Kennedy and the rest of those jokers.
Another candidate the SCJ doesnt mention is Diane Tebelius who ran unsuccessfully in the GOP primary against famed Sheriff, and now Congressman, Dave Reichert. She’s a former Assistant US Attorney, National Committeewoman and currently serves as the spokesperson/attorney for the Rossi campaign. She looks a lot like former Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn, but is more conservative.
Things are not gloomy in Washington State!
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I’ve heard the same as Brent. If I recall the Hotline said the same thing. That said I agree with you that some senators must be regretting their votes. I can’t help but wonder how much of Dole’s votes was based on her husband and geography.
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Ultimately, even if Mr. Rossi runs, the Dem machine is going to buy votes like crazy in King County. I don’t know if the right thinking folks east of the Cascades can do anything about that.
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I agree that it’s a failure on the Republicans’ part not to have been able to recruit Dino Rossi. However, it seems to me these days that the NRSC, which is chaired by Senator Dole, has become less powerful as Karl Rove has kind of taken over recruiting candidates for Senate. I do agree Senator Coleman would have been a better choice, though that could be a bias as I’m from Minnesota. Rove has gone to great lenghts to recruit candidates. More so than the NRSC when it was chaired by Frist and Allen.
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Didn’t I read in the Economist recently that there is a bill in the Washington State Legislature to split the state into two? The Conservative East and the Liberal West? What ever happened with that proposal?
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