In an election year when voters are feeling such distaste for incumbents, the GOP, in my opinion, should have put up someone other than Dino Rossi. I'm not saying he can't beat Sen. Patty Murray. (It's a toss up as far as I can tell, recent polls non-withstanding.) But Rossi is kind of an incumbent himself. In a year when voters want to clean house, he's part of the furniture really.

However, look at this year's ballot initiatives: Five of the six are pro-active conservative measures: Re-institute the two-thirds rule on the legislature for tax increases; two initiatives to privatize liquor; privatize workers' comp.; and repeal taxes.

These, particularly I-1053 (the two-thirds rule) and I-1107, the American Beverage Association initiative to repeal soda, candy, and bottled water taxes, are GOTV (Get Out the Vote) engines for the GOP.

I think this could make the difference in the Murray-Rossi race.

Governing magazine surveyed the national landscape and reached the same conclusion:

It's worth noting that while some of these measures have important policy implications (the California global warming measure is a big one), many of them don't. There are enough legal challenges to the health care reform law, for example, that a new state opposing it won't do a thing. But, the measures still serve the purpose of motivating partisans and framing the issues.

For whatever reason, Democrats have long seemed less adept or less inclined to use the ballot measure process. They've done an even lousier job than usual this year.

The article actually namechecks I-1098 (the high-earners income tax proposal) as an instance where liberals were pro-active.

What the article fails to mention is that there are five other statewide initiatives from the GOP side.

Footnote: There's one other lefty measure on the ballot here, R-52, which would fund bonds to retrofit public schools. But still, the ballot is out of whack.