Gregoire Vs. Rossi - The Gov Wins One

It was Mr. Nice Guy versus the Democrat pit bull with lipstick. Christine Gregoire was obviously well prepared for 90 second responses on each of the expected topics. She had her 30 second rebuttals to Dino down pat also. Every answer she gave was neatly divided into two parts, an upbeat positive presentation of her goals and alleged accomplishments followed by a vigorous attack on Rossi. The largely softball questions played right into the Governor’s debate game plan. Rossi did score some points on the ever expanding deficit and his joke about his campaign staff pool on how many times Gregoire would blame George W. Bush for any state problems. Dino picked six. He wasn’t even close. Nevertheless, Rossi failed to respond forcefully to her charges and frequently pitched puff verbiage when a strong, precise answer was needed. For instance, she charged that Rossi’s plan for the SR 520 floating bridge said he could build an eight lane bridge for a billion dollars less than Gregoire’s six lane proposal. She also claimed that he would pay for transportation by cutting education funds. Neither charge was refuted directly. Fortunately, not many people watch political debates at 9 PM on a Saturday night. There are four more debates scheduled but Dino will have to get his full dogcatcher gear on and go after the pit bull.

About these ads