This person misses the point. He assumes that all that Rossi wants is power, and that if he can't get it as Washington State's governor, he'll seek it as their Senator. The flaw in that thinking is the difference between an executive position and a legislative position, and the difference between an office in Olympia and an office in Washington, DC.
This is the race that Rossi ran, and this is the fight that he should see to the end.
-PJ
Rossi wants, to no surprise to those who know him, the process of selecting our public servants to be clear of corruption. I heard him tell about 600 delegates in King County that he had added a sixth item to his list of priorities when he becomes governor: election reform.
If independent forces can help portray Rossi as not only the victim of a robbery but a manly spirit, it would do him and the (small d) democratic cause well.
I would wish to politely suggest that all of this can be done while not conceding and continuing the fight, which I believe that he should.
There is a difference in being cast as a 'whiner' when you have no case and are obviously a juvenile, sore loser (Gore 2000) and being someone who has a legitimate case and has been genuinely wronged (Rossi 2004/2005). In Rossi's case he must continue the fight but he must fight just as hard to have his case heard in the public square, something that the local and national press wishes to avoid at all costs. Failing the second part of this fight would be nearly as disastrous as failing the first.
Some here are drawing the inference that the author is suggesting Mr. Rossi should withdraw gracefully now so that he will have a chance at Cantwell's seat in 2006, but he doesn't say that. I would suggest that the point is in not allowing the Left to spin this as sore-losing and whining Republicans now, because WHATEVER candidate opposes Cantwell in 2006 will be tarred by such a brush held over from this election.