Washington gubernatorial race

Sen. Chris MarrState Sen. Chris Marr (D-Spokane) wrote an op-ed for Spokane's Inlander Wednesday criticizing Dino Rossi's transportation plan. Marr admits that Rossi's plan seems too good to be true for the many folks stuck on clogged roads twice a day, five days a week, and he tries to show that it is too good to be true.

"Watching Dino Rossi roll out his $15.5 billion transportation plan in Spokane last month, it would have been hard for the average commuter to resist the temptation to join Representatives John Ahern and Lynn Schindler, Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke and local city officials such as Nancy McLaughlin and Diana Wilhite in singing its praises," Marr said in his editorial.

But Marr claims the plan is built upon a "$10 billion raid on the general fund" that "that steals scarce dollars from schools, health care and our prison system and continues lopsided funding for Seattle area projects."

SEATTLE -- Gubernatorial candidate Christopher Tudor (I-Seattle) held his campaign kickoff Wednesday night at the South Lake Union Armory. The gathering was smaller than expected, with about 40 people in attendance. As a result of the intimate gathering, made to appear even smaller in the cavernous venue, Tudor opted not to give a major speech in favor of addressing those in attendance personally.

Tudor, already well accomplished in the corporate world for his age, he is in his early thirties, whisked his way around the gymnasium with a wide smile and a ready answer for any question brought his way, whether it was about partisan politics (he does not like it), transportation policy (he thinks Washington needs more regional transit) or marijuana use (he has never tried it).

Christopher TudorAs Brad Shannon at The Olympian reported Monday, independent candidate Chris Tudor has announced a bid for the governor's mansion, and will begin his campaign with a kickoff event and nominating convention at the Lake Union Armory building armory building Wednesday, May 7. The event begins at 3:30, and Tudor tells PolitickerWA.com that he will speak at some time around 6:00 PM.

Tudor said he was disappointed by the fact that 2008's gubernatorial race essentially provides voters with the same choices as 2004, when he reluctantly supported Gov. Chris Gregoire. He believes voters need more choices than Republican and Democrat, and he intends to personally give them that choice. His campaign will focus on creating a better environment for small businesses and providing solutions on the environment, education and transportation.

According to his website, Tudor is the proprietor of the University District's College Inn Hotel, executive principal at Dickinson Equipment Company, and is on the board of Travelodge hotels. Tudor says he is committed to the race, and is willing to self-finance part of his campaign. So far he has hired one staffer, Jennifer Carroll, who was a past spokesman for the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and Seattle SuperSonics.

Governor Chris Gregoire's campaign sent out an e-mail today announcing an updated estimate on their April fundraising total. Last week they suggested that they had brought in roughly a million dollars.

After a second recount, the Gregoire campaign has updated the actual total. Now they are stating that they have earned more than $1.3 million dollars for the month from 6,352 contributors.

This is more than double the Rossi campaign's estimate of $625,000 for April, and potentially gives the Gregoire camp a large cash on hand boost after Rossi had erased  Gregoire's financial advantage during her legislative session contribution freeze.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi recently received his 30,746th contributor. Normally, word of such an uncommon number would not be newsworthy, but in this case the Rossi campaign is making a big deal of it.

The reason is that four years ago the campaign only had 30,745 contributors. When Rhonda Ray Wells of Auburn gave Rossi $50, she broke that record a full six months before the general election. Dino Rossi visited Wells' home to celebrate the milestone, and presented her with a signed copy of his book, Lessons in Leadership, Business, Politics and Life.

Gov. Chris GregoireGovernor Chris Gregoire received the endorsement of the Washington State Labor Council over the weekend. The Council is the state federation of the AFL-CIO, one of the largest and most influential labor unions in the country.

This comes one week after Gregoire received the endorsement of another major union in the state, the SEIU. The Governor won the WSLC endorsement with a unanimous vote.

A new Elway poll has Gov. Chris Gregoire leading Republican challenger Dino Rossi by a 5-point margin, 43% to 38%, the P-I is reporting. The last Elway poll, taken in January, showed Gregoire with a 48-35 lead.

Some of the crosstabs show the same findings are recent poll. Rossi has slightly stronger support among Republicans (78%) than Gregoire does with Democrats (71%). Gregoire would win Seattle handily (54%-28%), and Rossi would win Eastern Washington by a similar margin (54%-27%). Gregoire leads in King County as a whole (41%-35%), but Rossi leads the way in neighboring Pierce and Kitsap Counties, both at 45%-35%.

Dino RossiThe Dino Rossi campaign has told PolitickerWA.com that they are estimating a take of $625,000 for the month of April. This is less than the $920,000 Rossi brough in for March but still puts his total contribution level at an impressive $4.4 million for the cycle.

His opponent, Gov. Chris Gregoire, is rumored to have raised a million dollars last month after a long fundraising freeze.

Expenditures for both campaigns are still unknown, so cash on hand levels will have to wait a week.

Washington Gov. Chris GregoireGov. Chris Gregoire, who closed out the month of April with a last minute call to supporters in an e-mail asking them to cap off the month on a strong note.

"The media, undecided voters and my Republican opponent are all lining up to see how much support we have after our first 30 days," Gregoire said in the e-mail. "A donation before midnight tonight sends a message they can't ignore: We want to continue taking on challenges and getting results."

It seems to have worked. A source at the campaign told PolitickerWA.com that they are expecting about a million dollars for the month of April. Much of that came during the fundraiser with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. That even brought in more than $300,000. Not a bad way to formally kick off a campaign.

SEATTLE - In what was dubbed the formal campaign kickoff for Governor Chris Gregoire's re-election, likely the final piece ofGov. Gregoire greets supporters in Seattle the ignition that begin on a bus tour in Auburn earlier this month, more than 1300 people ate lunch and contributed to the campaign at Seattle's Westin Hotel. The event, which doubled as a fundraiser, charged between $100 for a "Silver Level" ticket up to $2800 to be a "Chris' Crew Member". Free tickets were also available to supporters unable to donate at the silver level.

But yesterday's fundraiser luncheon was very different from any of the bus tour kickoff events, highlighted by local dignitaries and a short stump speech by Gregoire before hopping back on the bus and on to the next town. This time the speech was revamped, video screens flanked the stage with images of Gregoire with the Dalai Lama and a new campaign video, and the dignitary came from out of state in the form of New Mexico Governor and former Presidential candidate, U.N. Ambassador and Energy Secretary Bill Richardson.