Free Republic

Cmon Dino, beat the vapid fool!

Every time PPP has polled the Washington Senate race this year it's found the race to be within 2 or 3 points and our final poll there is no exception. But there is one twist- for the first time we find Dino Rossi leading Patty Murray, by a 50-48 margin. Neither candidate has much in the way of support across party lines- Rossi's winning 93% of Republicans and Murray's winning 91% of Democrats. That means independents, as they are in so many races across the country, are making the difference for the GOP here. Rossi leads Murray with them by...

Reporting from Richland, Wash. — U.S. Sen. Patty Murray has been one of the nation's biggest advocates of federal spending to boost the foundering economy. Here at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the country's worst atomic weapons contamination site, Murray scored $1.9 billion in stimulus funds to speed cleanup and add 1,500 high-paying jobs in south-central Washington. But voters here have been ambivalent at best about all the money flowing in. During the primary, Murray trailed the local "tea party" candidate, who lost the GOP nomination to real estate investor and former legislator Dino Rossi. The Democratic incumbent now is waging...

Pasco -- The state Republican Party is continuing to rake the Franklin County Auditor’s Office over the coals over some missing blank ballots. State Republican and party leaders expressed their concern about the missing ballots during a statewide news conference this morning. Luke Esser, state Republican Party chairman, said the party has requested a list of the voters who have asked for a replacement ballot, but the Franklin County Auditor’s Office has not released the information. Franklin County Auditor Zona Lenhart, a Democrat...

Never mind Nevada. If you are among the party power brokers and political fortune tellers obsessed with America’s most elusive elected position, Senate Seat No. 51, head to Washington — the real one. “It is the future of America that’s at stake here,” said Dino Rossi, the man who just might give the Republicans the Senate majority. “It is, as it’s been dubbed, the 51st seat, potentially.” Or not. “Can I just tell you,” said Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat seeking her fourth term, “that’s the same line I have heard in every election I’ve ever been in.” Is this...

Real Clear Politics reporting of the polling in the Murray vs. Rossi Senate race shows that in less than one month there has been a 16 point swing in Murray's favor. An August 18-19 Survey USA poll showed Rossi with a 7 point lead. A CNN/Time poll take September 9-14 showed Murray with a 9 point lead. So, in less than a month, Rossi has lost 16 points — an implosion by most definitions. This is Rossi's third try at state-wide office. If he doesn't win this time, he's deservedly finished.

Republicans received further encouraging word in Southwest Washington's open congressional seat Thursday morning. A new poll from SurveyUSA taken for KING-TV in Seattle shows Republican Jaime Herrera, a state representative from Camas, leading Democrat Denny Heck, 54 percent to 41 percent. The two are vying to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Brian Baird of Vancouver. Interestingly, the poll result is not far off the vote totals gathered by the two parties in last week's non-partisan primaries. The latest results show Republicans with 53.7 percent of the vote to 42.4 percent for the Democrats.

The first KING 5 Senate poll for the 2010 general election shows Republican Dino Rossi is actually ahead of Democratic incumbent Patty Murray, 52% to 45%. In most polls leading up to this week’s primary election and on primary night, Murray was in the lead. Primary election results placed Murray 13 points ahead of Rossi, but Rossi splitting the Republican vote with Clint Didier who got 12%, and Paul Akers, with 3%. The new K5 poll of 618 likely voters, conducted by SurveyUSA, is the first look at a Murray-Rossi matchup in November. It suggests that even without an official...

The state Republican Party thought it had avoided problems faced by its brethren in other states, where Tea Party types took control and nominated candidates outside the mainstream that will have a tough time winning in November.Washington state has a Top Two primary system; the two candidates who get the most votes move on, regardless of party. This blunts the potential of intra-party squabbles. In the U.S. Senate race, Democrat Patty Murray and Republican Dino Rossi made it through to the fall. In Rossi, Republicans think they have their best chance in a long time to unseat Murray.Enter Clint Didier.

Here is a video report on surprisingly strong poll results for GOP U.S. Senate challenger Dino Rossi in Washington, where he is now leading incumbent Democrat Sen. Patty Murray 52%-45% in a new Survey USA poll! Democrats, and the media, are in total disbelief — and panic!

The Senate candidate that had backing from the Tea Party, Clint Didier garnered about 12 percent of the vote on Tuesday’s primary election. Didier relied heavily on his endorsement from Sarah Palin for his bid against Republican Dino Rossi. Didier says although Palin didn’t come to Washington, her backing still helped his campaign. Clint Didier: “Let me tell you what, don’t you take anything away from Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin is working her tail off for this country. She’s been all over this country to different states. She’s going where she thinks she can do the most good, I just...

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Democratic Sen. Patty Murray looked to move a step closer toward a fourth term Tuesday in a race that Republicans believe they can win in an election year when antiestablishment sentiment is running high.Murray and Republican challenger Dino Rossi are heavily favored to win Washington's primary and face off in November, in what could be a crucial election in the battle for control of the Senate. They already have been campaigning against each other in anticipation of a fall matchup, and President Barack Obama came to the state Tuesday to raise money for Murray.Washington is one of...

An extra push is coming from Sarah Palin for the Didier for Senate campaign in Washington State in the last four days of the primary. About a half-million voters across the state will be getting a call from the former V.P. candidate urging them to vote for Clint Didier. Palin's May 21 endorsement of Didier was one of her earliest endorsements this campaign season, calling him a "selfless, inspiring commonsense constitutional conservative who will help put our country on the right track." Palin's recorded message calls Didier a "...a new kind of Republican. A true conservative dedicated to our nation's...

Washington's Senate race looks increasingly like a referendum on incumbent Democrat Patty Murray with two Republican candidates edging past her this month. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Washington State finds Republican hopefuls Dino Rossi and Clint Didier both earning 48% support in match-ups with Murray. She, in turn, picks up 45% of the vote against the two GOP challengers. Less than 10% of voters in both cases prefer some other candidate in the race or are undecided.

Oh I so wish..... Washington’s Senate race looks increasingly like a referendum on incumbent Democrat Patty Murray with two Republican candidates edging past her this month. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Washington State finds Republican hopefuls Dino Rossi and Clint Didier both earning 48% support in match-ups with Murray. She, in turn, picks up 45% of the vote against the two GOP challengers. Less than 10% of voters in both cases prefer some other candidate in the race or are undecided. In June, Murray and Rossi were tied as they have been in virtually every...

BELLINGHAM — At Whatcom Community College's Syre Auditorium last week, the passion of the conservative tea-party movement was on full display. More than 400 people packed the candidate forum sponsored by the Bellingham Tea Party, cheering raucously for Republican U.S. Senate candidates Clint Didier and Paul Akers as they one-upped each other with calls to chop the federal government down to a size the Founding Fathers might recognize. The evening had all the flavor of the conservative insurgency that has become this year's popular national political narrative — a tide that has washed away establishment GOP candidates in Utah, Kentucky...

An Elway Poll of registered voters in Washington state indicates that 43 percent back Murray, who's bidding for a fourth term in the Senate, in the state's August 17 primary. Thirty-one percent support Rossi, with fellow Republicans Clint Didier at five percent and Paul Akers at two percent. Seventeen-percent were undecided. Washington is the only state in the nation to hold a non-partisan primary, with the top two vote-getters advancing to the general election. Earlier this month California voters passed a referendum that would move the Golden state towards a similar system.

VANCOUVER, Wash. -- Outsiders are in among Washington state Republicans, with candidates who align themselves with the Tea Party and conservative causes getting long and lengthy ovations at the party's convention.More than 1,200 delegates wrapped up the three-day meeting Saturday in Vancouver, hearing speech after speech castigating big government and Democrats, who hold power in both Washington, D.C., and Washington state.However, the August primary and not party conventions will decide the candidates for November's general election. Among those speaking were U.S. Senate candidate Clint Didier, who has the endorsement of Sarah Palin, and fellow Senate candidate Dino Rossi.

Critics of Washington Senator Patty Murray call her the "Queen of Pork." The three-term Democrat is currently ranked 9th in the Senate for earmarks. Republican Dino Rossi hopes to make this an issue in this year's campaign. But as KPLU's Austin Jenkins reports, Murray is unapologetic.

Was it a post-publicity bump or a harbinger for the November election? That's the question raised by the release Monday morning of updated results of a poll which shows Dino Rossi edging out Sen. Patty Murray among the most recent survey of registered voters. According to The Washington Poll, conducted annually by the University of Washington, registered Washington voters who were polled during the week of May 24 -- when Rossi finally made official his widely rumored candidacy for the U.S. Senate -- preferred Rossi over Murray 42 percent to 39 percent.