WA: Nice Poll, But Point Missed

Should Dino Rossi run for Washington Senator Maria Cantwell's seat in 2006? Could he be elected? Yes. Is this missing the point? Yes again.

Courtesy of OrbusMax is a new poll taken by Rasmussen showing 2004 gubernatorial candidate Rossi winning in a head-to-head match-up, 47%-44%.

The same survey shows Rossi with higher positive ratings than either Cantwell or Governor-For-Now Christine Gregoire.

Two issues are apparent here: first, Cantwell is in very big trouble as the incumbent should have much better numbers at this point in the term (and this close to the 2006 election). Cantwell has consistently been less popular than Patty Murray, who coasted to reelection in 2004 against Rep. George Nethercutt, after the latter ran a lousy campaign.

Second, doesn't this survey miss the point? Washington voters intended for Dino Rossi to be their next governor. Tyrant Christine Gregoire used a variety of tactics with help from friends in the right places to take that away from him. Rossi has governor written all over him and the US Senate is a whole different ballgame.

Rossi needs to continue this fight, not get distracted by another campaign. Hopefully there will be a new gubernatorial election ordered for this year which Rossi will win by 5-10 points or more. Only 42% of Washington voters believe Gregoire won the election fair and square, according to the same survey. Wow! That does not bode well for Gov.-For-Now Gregoire.

What the poll really shows is that Cantwell is in deep doo-doo, so the GOP should be lining up a credible candidate and kicking off fundraising efforts, now. Cantwell just never caught on because she has trouble relating to people for reasons unknown. She's even managed to alienate the liberal Seattle media over the years, a tall order for a Democrat.


(Rasmussen)

Friday February 25, 2005--Dino Rossi, the man who narrowly lost the race to be Washington's Governor last November, holds a slight lead over incumbent Senator Maria Cantwell in a hypothetical Election 2006 match-up.

Rossi attracts 47% of the vote to Cantwell's 44% in a survey of 500 Likely Voters conducted February 22, 2005. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Rossi leads by 7 points among men and trails by 1 among women.

A Republican victory in the "Blue State" of Washington would go against the recent trend of Senate elections matching up with the state's Presidential preference.

Overall, Rossi is viewed favorably by 55% of Washington's voters. Cantwell is viewed favorably by 54%.

Governor Christine Gregoire is viewed favorably by 50%, although just 42% believe she legitimately won last November's election. Forty-four percent (44%) believe Rossi was the real winner while 15% don't know who won.

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