Republican Governors Association

The Republican Governors Association launched another television ad in Washington this week, changing their tack from the gambling compact to Gregoire's record on safety.

The ad, called "On Her Watch", blames Gregoire for releasing 1300 sex offenders who classified themselves as homeless. It features a mother saying she has become more concerned for her child's safety since Gregoire came into office.

The Gregoire campaign quickly responded, releasing their own ad and disputing the facts of the RGA spot. 

Gov. Chris GregoireThe Republican Governors Association will take to the Washington state airwaves today with a television ad about the tribal gaming negotiations done by Gov. Chris Gregoire's office that resulted in less gambling in the state, but along with that a rejection of revenue profit sharing between the tribes and the state.

The ad says that the revenue-sharing deal turned down by the governor, which they call "bizarre", would have been able to help with social services in the state, and tries to connect the negotiations with later campaign contributions from local tribes as a payoff.

Gregoire's campaign has called the attempt to make an issue of out of the casino deal "desperate", and maintains that the deal was right for Washington.

The Republican Governors Association, whose presence in Washington state's race has increased of late with a mocking of Chris Gregoire's Barack Obama radio ad, kept at it this morning by weighing in with their expectations for tomorrow's "top two" primary.

In the memo, the RGA echoes the Dino Rossi campaign's assertion that Republicans tend to do relatively poorly in primary elections compared to general elections. They also float the idea that removing third parties by November will be uniquely helpful to their candidate. 

"The primary will help Rossi by clearing the race of other candidates who would capture the anti-Gregoire vote," the memo says. 

The Republican Governor's Association went after Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire's most recent radio ad today, which features Sen. Barack Obama calling for the type of change in government Gregoire has produced in her first term.

The RGA begs to differ. In addition to mocking Barack Obama for vacationing in his home state of Hawaii and speaking to European audiences, they question his judgment in supporting Gregoire by hitting the governor on the topics state Republicans have been using to make their case against her, namely her negotiations with state tribes, a lack of results on certain road projects and the projected budget deficit.

The Gregoire camp responded later the same day, using the attack to tie Dino Rossi to President George W. Bush, citing that Bush has raised $10 million for the RGA.