There’s been a lot of talk in recent weeks about some of Dino Rossi’s more boneheaded flubs.

Like demonstrating to the Seattle Times editorial board his near total ignorance of “net neutrality,” an issue they’ve editorialized in favor of on numerous occasions. Or maintaining his fierce opposition to Obama’s stimulus package while touring a Whidbey Island shipyard that had added dozens of jobs thanks $840,000 in federal stimulus money. Or inexplicably insisting that WTO findings of illegal Airbus subsidies should not be taken into account in awarding a $40 billion Air Force refueling tanker contract that could bring thousands of jobs to the Puget Sound region.

Some have chalked off Rossi’s curious statements to strategy, others to a doctrinaire conservative ideology. But I have an alternate theory that I find at least as plausible: perhaps Dino Rossi just doesn’t care?

If Rossi has been consistent at anything during this afterthought of a U.S. Senate race, it’s in coming off as indecisive, disinterested and uninformed. So perhaps Rossi couldn’t explain what net neutrality is, because he never bothered to bone up on it or other issues of interest the the Times’ editors? Perhaps Rossi didn’t even know that that the Nichols Bros. Shipyard had benefited from stimulus money because it never occurred to him to even ask? And perhaps he still can’t formulate a coherent answer to the Airbus subsidy question because… well… Rossi just doesn’t really give a shit?

For those of us who remember Rossi spitting nails during his 2008 rematch with Gov. Chris Gregoire, there was no doubt that he really, really, really wanted to kick her ass. But Patty Murray’s U.S. Senate seat? Rossi appears to be treating it like a consolation prize, and running accordingly.

Of course, it’s just a theory, but I haven’t seen such lackluster electioneering since George Nethercutt’s bizarrely pointless kibitzing-with-his-wife ads during the dying days of his 2004 campaign against Murray. And as theories go, it sure does explain a lot.

12 replies on “Dino Rossi: Careless or Carefree?”

  4. The only reason Dino Rossi is running again is to promote Dino Rossi Enterprises, Inc®. I doubt he really wants to win the Senate seat. There’s just not that much money in it.

  5. Hi everyone, I’m Bill Gates Senior.

    You know, Bill hasn’t talked to me for 2 years now…ever since I tried to put a USB stick into the DVD drive of his favorite laptop. He ran off to his room screaming….”I hate you…You don’t know anything about computers!”

    Heck, I guess he’s right. I can still remember when a “word processor” was a cute little redheaded number that we lawyers would take up to the Westin for some mid-afternoon “dictation”. Heh.

    What was I talking about? Oh yea. Ever since I went insane and started wandering about the mansion, they decided “Daddums needs a cause; one that will give us the legal right to put him in a home”. That’s why I’m for 1098. Or against it. I get confused.

    Vote for Truman!

  8. Rossi as governor could have affected law to drive his business and profile to greater success.

    Rossi as senator–despite I think US Senator being a FAR better gig than governor–would not have that added value.

    Hence, he doesn’t give a shit about being a Senator or Washington.

  9. Perhaps Rossi just thinks he can ride the wave in?

    If you’re taking the course Pass/Fail, you only need to bring your “C” game.

  10. I think you are right. I think he doesn’t really want to win; for one, he will make more money if he loses (at least in the short term). Plus, do him and his wife really want to live in DC for 6 years? It also requires a lot of flying back and forth.

    He never really wanted to run in the first place.

    He was talked into it by the Republican Senatorial Committee.

  12. Oh, they’ll dump him. Rossi wants to run for Governor again, because he thinks he deserves it. But after this THIRD lost statewide election, he’s toast. Rob Mckenna will be the fair-haired boy next time around.

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