The American Spectator

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Special Report

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Consequently, while Gregoire was struggling with the not-so-inspiring affairs of state and her own restive base, Rossi came out of the gate in October running hard on issues important to suburban swing voters such as education and transportation. Though many of Rossi's fellow Washington Republicans have struggled mightily on those topics, he is espousing a strategy similar to his 2004 run: understand the issues voters care about, apply conservative principles to those problems in a realistic agenda, then run with passion against the inert status quo of Olympia.

While the governor's fundraising has been strong, Rossi's own collections since entering the race mere weeks ago have been startling. As of November 30th he had already raised over $1.1 million and is likely to close much of Gregoire's current 3 to1 cash-on-hand advantage during the required fundraising freeze for state officials during the coming legislative session.

It all adds up to a race in a blue state where an incumbent governor has her hands full. Latent Democratic strength in Washington makes the challenge a difficult one, but "Governor Rossi" in 2009 isn't at all far-fetched.

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