October 25, 2007

Hey everybody! Dino Rossi's going to run for WA-Gov again!

So, the arguable real winner of the 2004 WA-Gov contest, Dino Rossi, is going to run against Christine Gregoire again in 2008. Fun, fun, fun!

Rossi announced his closely watched decision in an interview with The Associated Press and planned campaign kickoff events in Issaquah, the heart of his old legislative district, and in Spokane.

"It's time for fresh air in Olympia," he told the AP. "I'm ready. I'm very excited about the prospect of changing this state."

Rossi, the former state Senate budget chairman and a real estate investor, said he's running as an agent for change in Olympia. In his view, Gregoire is an insider who is "the governor for the government, not the governor for the people."

[...]

He said the governor ran as an opponent of tax hikes and promptly raised a number of taxes after she was inaugurated. He said Gregoire famously said she would "blast through the bureaucracy," but has clung to the status quo.

"I want people to know what we're going to finish what we started," Rossi said of his own campaign.

"This is the opportunity to actually change the direction and culture in the state of Washington and turn it into a customer-oriented state, looking at citizens as the customers. This will be a big change from the incumbent, who has worked in state government for 38 years."

Rossi said his chances are excellent, even if it's a tough year nationally for Republicans.

Still, he said: "No matter what, I'll be an underdog. I'm running against an incumbent."

In comments prepared for his kickoff announcement, he took direct aim at Gregoire and described himself as a new leader for a new era.

"The state government we set out to change four years ago is more expensive and less effective at solving our problems," Rossi said. "It's going to take new leadership in Olympia."

He sa...

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October 24, 2007

The right wing blogosphere descends into full-scale internice war over... Ron Paul supporters

I've been working on a bunch of stuff today, so while I've been online a bit, I haven't been blogging.

But, there's something very serious going on in the right-wing blogosphere today, and I feel I must now weigh in, despite the fact that my voice is less well-heard and softer than those of some other conservative/center-right/whatever bloggers.

Conservative blog (and occasional old foe) RedState took a pretty controversial step on Monday to deal with an apparent "scourge" of Ron Paul supporters. As the Politico put it:

The influential conservative blog Redstate.com placed a ban last night on all Paul commentary from readers who are recent arrivals to the blog.

This ban has caused quite a flurry of complaints. Obviously, many of them come from Ron Paul supporters, themselves, who feel locked out of a major conservative forum. But, among those complaining are also a fellow blogger I am proud to consider a friend, Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters and David All, of the David All Group.

Yesterday, Captain Ed wrote this of the ban:

Redstate has made a mistake in dealing with the Ron Paul Internet phenomenon. Instead of dealing quietly with trolls, the excellent conservative blog has announced a blanket policy banning supporting diaries and comments for Ron Paul from the site.

[...]

It's their community, of course, and they set the rules. However, this doesn't hurt Paul's credibility as much as it does Redstate's. While Paul's supporters tend towards the annoying and repetitive, they have less impact because we can easily engage them and counter their arguments. Banning them simply for their support for a candidate seems more like an a...

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October 23, 2007

Stupid suggestions about the VA-Sen race

So, everyone is now talking about how Rep. Tom Davis won't be running for Virginia's Senate seat. Personally, I'm going to wait for Davis to make his intentions public before speculating (I know the guy, and while I wouldn't say well enough to bet on his plans, given how much effort he's devoted to putting himself in a position to run for the seat, I still think there's a chance he may go ahead and do it-- even if he's not happy about having to go through a Virginia GOP convention, rather than a primary).

But, others, it seems are treating Davis' opting out as a foregone conclusion.

Witness Hugh Hewitt's colossally stupid post from yesterday, in which he treats Davis' opting out as a done deal, and seems to suggest that Lynne Cheney-- that's right, Lynne Cheney, the VP's wife-- should run for the seat being vacated by John Warner.

I am well aware that Hugh is completely out of touch with reality these days (his shilling for Romney and unwillingness to acknowledge even one problem with his chosen candidate tells me so), but this is ridiculous. Has Hewitt talked to any voters recently, who do not comprise the membership of an extremely closed, tight-knit, very conservative and uber-partisan base within the GOP itself? More to the point, since he lives in California, does he have even the most basic knowledge of what the political scene is like here in Virginia now?

Evidently not. His assertion that Lynne Cheney's candidacy would have more legitimacy than Hillary Clinton's may be true, but the basic point is, when Hillary was leaving the White House with Bill, first, Bill was hugely popular-- and that rubbed off at least a little on his wife. I don't know if Hugh has noticed (my guess is not), but pretty m...

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