HeraldNet - Gregoire Campaigns in Lynnwood, Says Rossi Would Create Deficit

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HeraldNet - Gregoire Campaigns in Lynnwood, Says Rossi Would Create Deficit

By Jerry Cornfield
Herald Writer

Gov. Chris Gregoire motored into Lynnwood on Sunday, rallying troops of supporters with a mix of sharp words for her opponent and a firm commitment to keep the needs of working families foremost in mind in a second term.

The Democratic governor told 250 people in the Lynnwood Convention Center of where she and Republican challenger Dino Rossi differ on education, health care, energy and the environment.

She criticized him for wanting to cut the minimum wage and unemployment benefit checks. (He says he'll consider cutting it only for teenagers.)

And she urged backers to spread the word by phone, at the door and in conversations with potential voters in the final week of the campaign so there are "no regrets" on Election Day.

"For the working families of this state … no regrets," she said.

Carolyn Todd of Lynnwood said she came away armed with plenty of reasons she can give potential voters about the governor.

"This state is in the good position it is in compared to others because of what she's doing," she said. "If anything, Christine doesn't toot her horn loud enough over the din of all the ads. She's about getting it done."

Sunday likely marked Gregoire's last major event this election in Snohomish County, a place where she lost to Rossi by nearly 6,500 votes in 2004. His performance was the first time a Republican candidate for governor had won the county in two decades.

On Saturday, Rossi was in the county at a rally with supporters in Everett. There, he criticized Gregoire for her handling of the state budget. He said a projected shortfall of $3.2 billion in the next two-year budget is a result of her "reckless" spending well beyond the level of incoming revenue.

Gregoire, on Sunday, said Rossi's proposals for funding transportation projects with a portion of sales tax and eliminating the estate tax will effectively increase the size of the deficit to more than $4 billion.

She said Washington does have a "rainy day" emergency reserve to help, if needed.

"We uniquely have a surplus -- yes his ad is wrong -- and we have money in the bank," she said.

"We'll build a budget. I'll do it with the fairness and compassion that I did four years ago," she said.

Gregoire arrived with plenty of Democratic firepower, including Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Washington Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, and Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon.

When they weren't making the case for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, they argued for the need to return Gregoire to office in Washington.

Sebelius leveled the sharpest partisan salvos at Rossi, saying the negative campaign attack ads from him and his supporters follow the strategy of the Republican Party nationally.

"The playbook followed by Dino Rossi is exactly the playbook of the national Republicans," she said.

Gregoire told supporters they can provide a response Election Day to the millions of dollars poured into the race by special interests -- not mentioning by name the sources of the funds, which are the Republican Governor's Association and the Building Industry Association of Washington.

"Our antidote to their $7.5 million is you," she said.

Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.

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