Senate Race: Dino Rossi

As I wrote earlier I have voted for Dino Rossi in the U.S. Senate race.

This race really boils down to either re-electing Senator Patty Murray for a 4th term or not. As Senator Murray is No Rocket Scientist, chairs no full committees in the U.S. Senate despite being the 21st senior Democrat in the Senate (19th not counting Specter or Lieberman) - where 3 more junior senators already run standing committees, or replacing her with someone (anyone) else.

Despite the fact that she previously lead the DSCC (odd since she's not from New York or New Jersey) into debt, is the Secretary of the Democratic Senate Conference (where the Vice-Chair position was created to bump the Secretary's leadership ranking down a peg), and sits on the Appropriations (chairing the Transporation Subcommittee), Budget, and Rules Committees she doesn't seem to wield a lot of clout in the Senate.

So the alternative to Patty Murray this year would seem to be either 2-time state Gubernatorial candidate (who really did win the 2004 election) and former State Senator Dino Rossi, farmer and former Washington Redskins Tight End great Clint Didier, or Bellingham entrepreneur Paul Akers.

Rossi certainly has the polling numbers to show he can make this race a tight one, but at one point so did Didier. While I actually liked Akers prior to Rossi jumping into the race (pretty late into the campaign season as his critics will cry to anyone who will listen) Akers not only just doesn't poll anywhere near the big three (Murray, Rossi, and Didier) he also joined Didier in doing the dumbest thing I think I've ever seen in a U.S. Senate campaign season - Akers and Didier joining together to run a joint campaign for a single political office.

Didier, the early Palin-endorsed (who now can't seem to find any time to show up for him) candidate just sounds too damn angry all the time for me. The fact that Ron Paul has endorsed him also doesn't bolster his stock with me.

So I prefer the not-Murray candidate who has a track record of winning support and votes from the muddled-middle that in so many elections really seem to decide who wins.

I've put my vote and my money on Dino Rossi.