It was Mr. Nice Guy versus the Democrat pit bull with lipstick. Christine Gregoire was obviously well prepared for 90 second responses on each of the expected topics. She had her 30 second rebuttals to Dino down pat also. Every answer she gave was neatly divided into two parts, an upbeat positive presentation of her goals and alleged accomplishments followed by a vigorous attack on Rossi. The largely softball questions played right into the Governor's debate game plan. Rossi did score some points on the ever expanding deficit and his joke about his campaign staff pool on how many times Gregoire would blame George W. Bush for any state problems. Dino picked six. He wasn't even close. Nevertheless, Rossi failed to respond forcefully to her charges and frequently pitched puff verbiage when a strong, precise answer was needed. For instance, she charged that Rossi's plan for the SR 520 floating bridge said he could build an eight lane bridge for a billion dollars less than Gregoire's six lane proposal. She also claimed that he would pay for transportation by cutting education funds. Neither charge was refuted directly. Fortunately, not many people watch political debates at 9 PM on a Saturday night. There are four more debates scheduled but Dino will have to get his full dogcatcher gear on and go after the pit bull.
(Sorry couldn't help myself.)
But seriously, the whole "Rossi is Mr. Nice Guy" thing is something we've seen in all the ads this season, so I guess I have to believe he has a strategy here. But it sure would, have been a good thing if he'd have stepped over the line just once to show that he can be forceful.
Posted by: johnny on September 22, 2008 04:13 PMRossi came off exactly as I, and I believe the vast majority of Washingtonians, want their governor to come off as. Quiet, confident, energetic, and factual. He had specific plans with details, and specific criticisms of the way things are being done.
The bottom line is I can listen to Rossi, but whenever the camera was on Gregoire I had to force myself to not turn the whole thing off.
Posted by: Jonathan Gardner on September 22, 2008 04:17 PMMy own personal impressions of Rossi are that he doesn't like any blood on the floor. His aversion to face-to-face smashmouth politics may be a result of steering clear of cultural stereotypes much of his career. I'm not saying he won't throw any punches, but when his opponent opens themself up he fails to land the crucial blow to hammer his point home, or put their argument to the mat.
From all accounts he was raised to be a nice guy, but sometimes a nice guy has to stand up and put a bully in their (her) place.
Posted by: Bryan Myrick (thesenator2012) on September 22, 2008 04:34 PMMy own personal impressions of Rossi are that he doesn't like any blood on the floor. His aversion to face-to-face smashmouth politics may be a result of steering clear of cultural stereotypes much of his career. I'm not saying he won't throw any punches, but when his opponent opens themself up he fails to land the crucial blow to hammer his point home, or put their argument to the mat.
From all accounts he was raised to be a nice guy, but sometimes a nice guy has to stand up and put a bully in their (her) place.
Posted by: Bryan Myrick (thesenator2012) on September 22, 2008 04:35 PMGov. Gregiore- Irrational, hair-on-fire, everything is someone elses fault.
Dino- Calm, thoughtful, knowledgeable.
Dino may not have been as forceful as he could have or should have been, but Gov. Gregiore turned me off with her blame everyone else attitude. Doesn't she know that as the State's chief executive, she is ultimately responsible for what happens in state government? Right or wrong everything is HER fault.
Posted by: David on September 22, 2008 04:51 PMWith that said, there is plenty of room for improvement for him next time. Expect more of the same softball questions that play into her hands. He will have to defend his accomplishments better and not let her get away with her lies about him leaving her with a deficit by at least correcting the record and letting people know that her predecessor was Gary Locke.
Posted by: KS on September 22, 2008 05:53 PMGregoire was, at best, debating Bush for the governor. At worst, she was conjuring up the Bush demon to keep the villagers in line. (Seriously, it's difficult for me to envision her in a warm and touching moment. She does not evoke warmth in any aspect.)
Rossi was nice, I guess. I'm not gay, but he smiled nice.
At the end of the day, I almost feel compelled to vote for Gregoire out of fear of what she will do to me if I don't. :)
How's that for responsive politics?
Posted by: BothellBuddy on September 22, 2008 06:07 PM--R. Reagan
Posted by: John Bailo on September 22, 2008 07:05 PM"He wasn't even close."
Actually he was only 1 off ... by our count she mentioned it 5 times - but then again we turned it off about half way through.
I thought Gregiore was completely raving and I was attempting to be fair in my analysis (though I do admit a bias). My husband and I were laughing at all the times she said "literally" and "you know" over and over and over again. Even this morning we were "literally" joking. And blaming George Bush. So that is the only thing we got from her ... sad.
I did want Rossi to "attack" more but thought he did okay. Not fabulous but not bad.
Posted by: megs on September 22, 2008 07:41 PM(he he! I've always wanted to say that).
Posted by: Cliff on September 22, 2008 08:30 PMHuh? Why is that?
Oh, is Gregoire born there or something?
Posted by: Cliff on September 22, 2008 08:32 PMDOH!!! You beat me to it.
But I like your way better. I just had to say it about somebody. It comes off funnier with Queen Christine.
Posted by: Cliff on September 22, 2008 08:34 PMWhat's the most appalling of all is her desire to get us out of our cars. If her and mayor Greg FivePennies are successful at that, what is the economic impact of that? Is that something they've ever even considered???
Posted by: Brent on September 22, 2008 08:58 PMYou can count on one thing from Gregoire, massive and neverending government growth, and massive and neverending tax and fee hikes.
It has been a continual staple of her last four years.
Dino gets my nod because my pocket book can stand no more gouging.
Posted by: gs on September 22, 2008 09:47 PMSpot on analysis.
Dino is pretty straight forward and I'm tending to think there is less of McCain rope a dope strategy, and more of a stay low, don't give them any gaffes to run with, and give her a lot of rope to hang herself and strike hard in October.
Posted by: Andy on September 22, 2008 10:28 PMSome debate graders like the pit bull, others like a straight facts debate and some like the one-liners.
But, after listening to Dori on podcast who played some clips, it was obvious why Pope and Cato got confused when they started comparing Gregoire and Bush for president, instead of Rossi and Gregoire for Governor.
She needs to do more focus groups. The issues in February are not the issues today. And there is no way to get rid of the albatross called the budget no matter how she dresses it up.
Signed,
Lipstick Man
Posted by: swatter on September 23, 2008 07:52 AM