Republican Dino Rossi Expected to Enter Washington Senate Race

1 year ago

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Republican Dino Rossi is hiring campaign staff and could enter the race to unseat Democratic Sen. Patty Murray in Washington state as soon as Wednesday.

GOP strategist Pat Shortridge, who is currently working for the Senate campaign of Marco Rubio in Florida, has signed on to become Rossi's campaign manager, The Seattle Times reported Monday.

Rumors have swirled for months that Rossi, a former state senator and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate, was considering a run.

A number of other Republicans are already running, including former Washington Redskin Clint Didier.

Most of the recent polls showed Murray, now in her third term, easily besting the declared Republican candidates seeking her job, but facing a closer contest if Rossi got into the race, although one had her outdistancing him by 17 points.

On May 5, Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com said his statistical model shows "Murray should be about an 8-point favorite over Rossi based on her approval ratings and the political tilt of Washington state. It just doesn't think that the national environment has gotten quite bad enough for Democrats that a relatively noncontroversial incumbent like Murray would be favored to lose in a relatively Blue state."

Filed Under: Senate, Democrats, Republicans, 2010 Elections, Congress

Tagged: 2010 Senate Elections, 2010 Senate Races, Dino Rossi, DinoRossi, Patty Murray, PattyMurray, senate, washington senate races

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