I’m not pulling your leg (much) with that title. Thanks to a series of complicated legal battles that went all the way to the Supreme Court, Washington is finally resuming its historical “top two” primary method, where all candidates are listed together in the primary and the two top vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. (This may actually make Washington’s general elections more competitive, both in the thoroughly Democratic-dominated Seattle area and the Republican-dominated east.)
Between this, and Washington’s no-party-registration system (no one registers as a member of any party, and for the last few years, Washington used a pick-a-party primary), candidates in Washington now have the opportunity to identify themselves as members of whatever party they want.
That hasn’t stopped Rob McKenna (incumbent AG), the three Republican congresscritters, or most other major office seekers from signing up as “prefers Republican Party…” with one major exception: Dino Rossi, the Republican candidate for governor. He’s running as the standard-bearer of the “G.O.P. Party,” and that’s what will actually appear on the ballot next to his name.
There’s one other Republican Party-pooper who’s running for statewide office: Curtis Fackler, the Spokane County Republican chair, is running for Insurance Commissioner with “No party preference,” concerned that there are 30 percent of voters in Washington who will vote against a Republican “no matter what:”
And we want to get around that. We want them to read our statements and see where we’re coming from.
This escaped national notice until just recently, when Fox News, of all places, called out Rossi for his abandonment of the Republican brand. But why shouldn’t he? Rossi’s pre-politics career was real estate salesperson; he knows how to sell, and he knows that when your brand of dog food has been found to be poisonous, you stop selling it under that name.
http://www.surveyusa.com/clien…
McCain (R) 47%
Obama (D) 48%
MoE +/- 4%
is that Rossi has volunteers at street fairs etc. (even in Seattle’s U-district) handing out propaganda saying “GOP” and never mentioning the word “Republican” unless they have to. It’s hilarious watching them pull unsuspecting hippies off the street and try to convince them to tell their friends that the Repugs aren’t all that bad. Usually such conversations end with a disagreement about the practical applications of medical marijuana.
The good news for Rossi is that he’s on WA State Public Access channels at least every day, so he’s making strides to secure the “bored channel-surfer” vote.
BUT i just don’t see this shenanigan working for 2 big reasons; #1/clearly incumbent gov. gregoire will trumpet the fact she is a democrat and #2/ rossi ran 4 years ago, the folks there know he is a republican; this crap will backfire with independents(independent voters don’t like to be called out as morons and this tactic does just that)
“GOP Party” might be worse than “ATM Machine” and “Jeb Bush”.
In all seriousness – don’t most people (in Washington State and elsewhere) equate the “GOP” and the “Republican Party” anyway?
That GOP stands for “Green Only Party.” That might trick a few people.
Everyone knows GOP stands for Republican. If you look into the filing of other offices in my state you will find a few others running for the state House/Senate who marked “GOP”. You will even find some Dems who have strayed a bit from saying “Democratic” Party.
This story is a big deal out of nothing IMO. I believe even my old Dino Rossi sign from 2004 says GOP on it.
He’s not running as a Republican. The Republican Party is the Grand Old Party. He’s running as a member of the Grand Old Party Party.