June 10, 2008 - 10:47am
Candidates file as not Republican
By Wally Edge
Category: Governor, LocalTags: Republican Party, Democratic Party, Dino Rossi, Top-Two Primary, Curt Fackler
Rich Roesler at the Spokesman Review has the money quote from Insurance Commissioner challenger Curt Fackler.
"And on a statewide basis, I feel that having an R after your name isn't that advantageous. I'm not denying that I'm a Republican." But I’m not going to go around advertising it either.
Gubernatorial challenger Dino Rossi, who listed his party preference as “GOP,” couldn’t have said it better himself. PolitickerWA’s Bryan Bissell describes the candidates’ acrobatic explanations for why the GOP designation is perfectly normal and not at all an effort to confuse voters or distance candidates from the Republican brand.
This sleight of hand isn’t new – the GOP started calling themselves the Grand Old Party in order to sound more respectable and established than the Democratic Party, which was organized some 22 years earlier.
Not to be outdone by their GOP/R counterparts, some democrats showed that they’re not geniuses either by listing their party preference as “Democrat party” instead of “Democratic party.” We hope the WASL tests to make sure that our kids, if not our legislators, can tell the difference between a noun and an adjective.
Most candidates stuck to the big two (D/R) or big four for the not so smart (GOP/Democrat) in their party preference filings. We were hoping for something a little bit more creative, but then again, this is state government. At least when the top-two primary pits a GOP against an R in local legislative races, voters can pretend like they have a choice.
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Party listings on Top Two
It gets even more creative, as legitimate minor party candidates file, and the wannabees make up parties. The real deal parties include the American Heritage Party, the Constitution Party, the Freedom Socialist Party (and a few other Socialist groups), the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and the Progressive Party. The Progressives, for one, have so loudly proclaimed that they will sue anyone trying to use their party name without permission (it's trademarked), that only the real Progressive Party member is using the name to run for office--a miracle in this era of Progressive fill-in-the-blank front groups for everyone who likes the name.
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