So far I have seen two ads promoting incumbent governor Chris Gregoire, and both had the same theme:  George Bush.

In both ads a comparison was made to how Gregoire was nothing like George Bush.

I have one question:  Did I miss something, or is Bush running for Governor of Washington?

Seriously, the ads are frankly no better than the Better Then Bush sentiments in the 2004 presidential elections.

One of the ads does carry it further and that provides the connection:  they are trying to pain challenger Dino Rossi as "another George Bush" thereby scaring us into not voting for him.

Dino's ad, by comparison targets the Washington's government at it;s weakest areas, traffic, taxes, small businesses and education.

David Postman of the Seattle Times caught the comparison and the flaws:

Gregoire ad is off-base on Rossi v. Roe v. Wade

Gov. Christine Gregoire is airing a radio ad that tries to draw an ideological connection between her opponent, Republican Dino Rossi, and President George W. Bush.

But the ad pushes Rossi a bit further to the right than facts support. Rossi doesn't help himself much on this front, given that when it comes to the issue of abortion, he refuses to clearly state his position.

The ad runs one minute and is airing statewide. It opens with a narrator who asks: "When you hear the name Dino Rossi, what other name comes to mind?"

Gregoire's answer is Bush, of course. The ad lists several issues, including children's health insurance, stem-cell research, global warming and abortion, where Rossi and Bush are on the other side from Gregoire.

And those positions are fairly fundamental with conservatives, so it appears to me that this is less about Rossi as it is about Bush.

The fact is that the Democrats seem to be wanting to draw on the negative numbers that Bush has had latently, so they will capitalize on any connection to the President that they can.

Now the fact is that Gregoire's ad is full of complaints about Rossi's policies, so there is plenty of negativity to go around.  but since he has not been in politics for many years, the complaints sometimes ring hollow because for the last 4 years, he has not been a factor in the day to day business of Olympia.

That is why they must associate them with a person they can demonize and therefore demonize him by association.

And this is also why Dino's ads may have more traction.  He has 4 years of Gregoire actively playing governor to deal with, to analyze and to show the flaws in.

This campaign will likely prove to be much more entertaining than the presidential race.

Particularly if the best that the Washington Democrats can come up with is a recycled "Better Than Bush".

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