Dino Rossi pledges to make state competitive

GOP candidate for governor talks about his campaign, plans for the future

Calling himself an underdog, Dino Rossi hopes to end 20 years of Democratic governors in Washington.

The Republican candidate said that the perception of having Democratic front-runner and state Attorney General Christine Gregoire as the candidate to beat does not bother him.

"I have been an underdog all my life," the former state senator said. "Why should this time be any different?" he asked.

Rossi, who has never run for a statewide office, said the lack of name recognition compared to Gregoire's does not worry him.

"(Former Gov.) Dan Evans ran as a legislator and he did not have name recognition," he said. "And he beat (A.D.) Rossellini," he said. Rossellini was the incumbent at the time.

Pundits throughout the state consider Rossi to be the best candidate the Republican Party has had in eight years to regain control of the Governor's Mansion.

When asked what he had to offer that the past two GOP candidates John Carlson and Ellen Craswell did not, Rossi declined to elaborate, emphasizing instead the differences between the Washington of 2000 and 1996 and the state today.

"The climate is different," he said. "People in my neighborhood are unemployed for the first time in their adult life. They are worried about feeding the kids and paying the mortgage."

Rossi said that when Carlson ran in 2000, only 27 percent of people said the state was on the wrong track, while now 66 percent of people say that. "People in this state want change," he said.

Numbers like these, Rossi said are similar to the ones seen in California, where Democratic governor Gray Davis was recalled and replaced by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, and in a number of other states, where Republicans won the governorship from a Democrat.

"Kentucky, Mississippi, Hawaii, Maryland, Rhode Island, Vermont," he tallied. "The common thread is a climate for change."

A climate, he said, which goes across party lines.

"Our campaign is not made of just Republicans," he said. "There are moderate Democrats who want to see change."

Before that change happens, Rossi has to beat three-time incumbent attorney general Christine Gregoire. On her Web site, Gregoire mentions the same key issues that have been bandied about by Rossi's camp, such as broadening job training and the restructuring of the tax system. The difference Rossi said, lies in one point.

"I am the one who will do it," he said. "I am not just chatter, I have a history of doing it."

Among his accomplishments, Rossi mentioned trimming "the biggest deficit in history without raising taxes," and his longtime involvement in the business community.

"I come from a business background, and she (Gregoire) has no connection to the business community," he said. "When (Gregoire) talks about getting jobs, jobs, and jobs, I talk about letting entrepreneurs be entrepreneurs and creating jobs in the private sector. She's worked in government all her life."

The graduate of Seattle University rattled off the different business associations that have endorsed his campaign, from his realtor colleagues to the farm bureau, builders and contractors, funeral directors, and restaurateurs.

Rossi said he has showed that being fiscally conservative and having a social conscience are not mutually exclusive viewpoints. As an example, he mentioned the awards he has received from organizations such as the American Association of Retired People.

Rossi said the state needs to become competitive again, making sure the state gets back to the idea of customer service, and getting people back to work.

"The bottom line is," he said. "They (Democrats) have been running the show for 20 years, and if they wanted to make things better, they would have done it, but their constituent base would never let them,"