WA-SEN Poll: Patty Murray’s Most Wasteful Initiative?

OVERlution: Murray 41%, Rossi 33%, Didier 11%, Akers 5%

A KING5/SurveyUSA poll conducted just as Washington voters have “top two” primary ballots in their hands (all but one of 39 counties are vote-by-mail) finds incumbent Patty Murray and Republican challenger Dino Rossi poised to move ahead to the November U.S. Senate general election by wide margins of 41% and 33% respectively .

Self-appointed Tea Party candidate Clint Didier only garners 11% total support, with a mere 24% of those with a favorable opinion of the Tea Party backing Didier, versus 56% for Dino Rossi.  Rossi also leads in Didier’s native Eastern Washington by a 35%-21% margin.

Didier’s “running mate,” Republican Paul Akers only polls 5%.  The “joint campaigning” idea that Didier and Akers announced a couple of weeks ago does not seem to have produced any results, other than, as predicted, splitting the vote between the two men.

Didier’s lurch to the far right libertarian policies of Ron Paul has alienated many traditional conservatives in both the Tea Party movement and Eastern Washington who favor free trade, a strong national defense, and victory in the War on Terror.  And Didier’s “angry white man” routine has turned off voters, as expected, in more urban Western Washington, where he only receives 8% support.

Efforts by the sham pro-life Washington Life Coalition to smear Rossi as soft on abortion have also failed, with Rossi garnering 52% of the pro-life voter support, versus just 17% for Didier.  Ironically , that is the same amount for strongly pro-choice Patty Murray.

Breaking: Rossi Doubles Murray in Fundraising

Breaking news from the Associated Press:

Republican Dino Rossi raised nearly double the amount of money that Democratic Sen. Patty Murray did last month, but he still has less in the bank in his effort to oust the three-term incumbent.

New campaign finance reports released by his campaign Thursday afternoon show Rossi raised $573,672 last month, compared to the $293,486 raised by Murray during the same period.

Murray, who is seeking a fourth term in the U.S. Senate, spent about $3.9 million last month, most of it for advertising. Rossi spent about $152,000 in July.

Rossi has about $1.8 million in the bank, compared to Murray’s $3.2 million.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to travel to Washington to raise money for Murray on Aug. 17, which is primary election day.

Rossi raised more than $517,000 in individual contributions, and brought in an additional 56,500 through political committees. Murray had only $265,000 in individual donations, and another $37,000 from political committees.

It’s probably worth pointing out again that Rossi raised almost as much in one month as his Republican opponents Clint Didier and Paul Akers have during the entire campaign.

First Rossi Ad Highlights Self-Made Bio, Spending

It’s titled, “Wisely.”

Contrast this positive ad with Patty Murray’s attack ad on Rossi right out of the gate. Clearly, the Murray campaign strategy is to drive up Rossi’s negatives with a few bogeymen. Rossi’s narrative is more subtle, as Carl Cameron points out.

Most national coverage of the Senate matchup seems to be picking up on the gafftastic quality of Murray’s ad: she’s no stranger to corporate or Wall Street money. The ad wars will only ratchet up more now that the Top Two Primary is in sight, but in this first round, Rossi comes off smelling like roses while Murray appears to step in it.

It remains to be seen whether the other two GOPers running (yeah, remember them?!) will make sizable TV buys of their own.

Murray Jumps the Shark

Last week, former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Chris Widener tweeted that Clint Didier and Paul Akers had “jumped the shark” with their joint announcement last week to campaign together against the “establishment” conspiracy to ensconce Dino Rossi as the party’s nominee.

Now, Patty Murray has also jumped the same shark by resurrecting the moldy old bogeyman of Dubya, DUBYA!, who hasn’t run for anything in six years, to go after Dino Rossi in a new TV ad:

And in case you were wondering, Bush Derangement Syndrome is SO 2008. A new poll by Third Way reveals that:

…just 25% of Americans say that the GOP’s return to power in Congress will mean a return to those unpopular Bush policies. Fully 65% believe a GOP Congress would promote “a new economic agenda that is different from George W. Bush’s policies.”

Murray, as usual, missed what the real concerns of Washingtonians are. It’s the economy, stupid. And Bush is all you can talk about? Lame.

And allying herself closely with Obama is not not going to help Murray win a fourth term. As Third Way found, just 48% of independent voters think Obama has an economic agenda at all, let alone one that’s working.

UPDATE: The Washington State Republican Party in a new press release notes about Murray’s new ad:

It’s a bizarre attempt to link a challenger to special interests when the bail-out supporting Senator’s largest donors, as the Seattle Times reports, are lobbyists.

Patty Murray, in her career has taken over $500,000 from the Securities and Investment industry, and is one of the Top 10 Senators who take contributions from lobbyists according to the Center For Responsive Politics (www.OpenSecrets.org).

Publicola also has more.  Patty was for Wall Street bailouts before she was against them.