Story Published: Mar 10, 2008 at 9:16 PM PST
Story Updated: Mar 10, 2008 at 9:16 PM PST
"So much is at stake," said White. "People always worry about the federal government, but state, county and local is where we need to start."
Saturday, they focused on the state.
Residents heard from Attorney General Rob McKenna, who's seeking re-election, and Dino Rossi, who's back on the campaign trail as a candidate for governor, jokingly telling people he's seeking re-election as well, after an extremely close vote the last time he ran.
"It's a different campaign, completely different," said Rossi. "Last time when I decided I was going to run for governor, I only had 12 percent name ID statewide. Almost everybody in this county thought Dino Rossi was some sort of wine."
Washington voters know his name now.
You may remember in 2004, when, in a mid-November certification, the polls showed Rossi ahead of current Governor Christine Gregoire by 261 votes. Gregoire won the election a month and a half later, after a second recount put her ahead by 129 votes. Three years after the legal battles ended over those results, Rossi is ready to take on Gregoire again.
"I'm running against someone who's been in state government pushing 40 years, never had a private sector job in her adult life," he said. "It doesn't make her evil or bad, but what it does is give you a very Olympia-centric view of the world. It's not how the rest of us live out here."
The 48-year-old Republican from Sammamish won in every eastern Washington county and took 57 percent of Asotin County's vote in 2004. However, in Asotin County alone, nearly 3,000 registered voters did not cast a gubernatorial vote.
Rossi is calling on Eastern Washington with a message that, come November, the "my vote doesn't count" excuse won't cut it.
"If people want to, they can control every single election," said Rossi. "If they get their aunt, who doesn't think their vote counts anymore to vote, get their 18-year-olds registered to vote. Just get everybody out to vote. If you exercise the vote that you’re given, you can control every election."
