There is a fundamental issue driving the competitiveness of our Governor's contest and the grassroots contributor base building behind Dino Rossi. This dynamic stretches beyond fervor one would expect in the ranks of the GOP in the wake of the entire process of the 2004 election.

To understand this issue, note comment # 31 from a post below on the main page discussing the gubernatorial contest:

I think that the "real" reason that Gregoire is doing so poorly is that she has so little to run on. She is still running against a GOP "boogeyman" and telling us that if you think it's bad now, just wait until a Republican gets elected.

The Obama phenomenon is based on a rejection of the traditional party line that has failed to create new ideas or solutions to old problems. Gregoire has been all party line.

I doubt very heavily that Obama would have as much difficulty deciding the fate of the 520 bridge, the viaduct, or our ferry system. He would at least be able to say something coherent that made sense.

Obama is going to draw a lot of democratic leaning young voters, but they won't necessarily be Democrats. These voters are more likely to be better informed and they are fed up with no solutions coming out of Olympia.

That is why Gregoire is in trouble. These Obama voters aren't going to have any problem splitting the ticket and voting for Rossi. Rossi supporters are fired up after the last election. Obama supporters aren't likely to be fired up for Gregoire because she isn't dealing with the most obvious problems facing this state.

It's just more of the same, and we can't expect a different result when we keep doing more of the same. We are past due for some housecleaning in the Governor's office. Rossi isn't exactly my cup of tea, but I might give it a try after four years of not getting anything resolved.

Note that commenter Kyle's website isn't exactly a paragon of partisanship. There is a general mood in a notable segment of the populace that major problems just aren't getting addressed, let alone in anything close to a timely manner.

Beyond pure partisan passion, that's a huge factor dragging down Gregoire in this election cycle, and a significant component to Dino Rossi's success that far. Those trends are magnified by the fact the Governor's race looks like the one choice on the ballot where voters can cast a vote guaranteed to shake up the status quo in the Evergreen State.

To exemplify the point, note that Rossi's campaign began announcing contributor milestones on April 2nd, with the news of its 26,000th donor. That count is now over 39,000 as of the latest announcement on Friday, crushing his 2004 donor total of 30,745.

One can bet that more than a few of those, and the inevitable thousands more in the months to come, won't just be ardent Republicans. They'll be people who are simply saying enough is enough.