It didn't happen exactly as advertised—at the appointed hour this morning, Dino Rossi's web site was still devoted to an ad for his real estate firm, Coast Equity Partners—but now the announcement's finally, officially been made:

Attacking problems of "the last two years" that were, in fact, largely in place before Democrats took power in D.C. in 2008—skyrocketing unemployment and sinking home values, for example—Rossi says he's launching "a great campaign to put things right."

UPDATE: Murray campaign manager Jeff Bjornstad responded with a statement that didn't mention Rossi by name, but did try to re-frame the choice in this race.

Rossi's announcement video tries to cast the choice as being between a guy who knows how to fix the country's problems (him) or more of the same from an out-of-touch "political establishment in Washington, D.C." Murray's campaign, no surprise, sees the choice a bit differently:

No matter who is running against her, Patty Murray gets up every day to fight for the working families of Washington state. She is an effective voice for families and small businesses because she shares their values. And she brings those Main Street values to Washington, D.C. where she’s leading the charge to put people back on the job, end Wall Street bailouts, care for our veterans and ensure the tanker contract goes to Washington’s Boeing workers.

This election will be a choice between putting people back to work and taking us backwards to the failed Bush era policies that got us into this mess. It’s a choice between who has stood up to special interests and who will cater to them. It's a choice between who is standing up for Main Street and who has gotten rich thanks to Wall Street. It’s a choice between who is helping prevent foreclosures and who is profiting from them. And it’s about who will be the real voice of Washington state families every single day. There's only one candidate in this race who has consistently stood up and delivered for Washington's families and that's Patty Murray.