Jolt
Afternoon Jolt: Earmarks, Earmarks, Earmarks.
Today's Winner: The Dino Rossi campaign, which is successfully framing the debate in the last week of the campaign.
Patty Murray challenger Dino Rossi held a press conference in Seattle last week condemning earmarks, saying he'd ban them because he believes that if something is important enough to be in the budget, it should be in the budget from the beginning of the budget process, not added through political haggling.
During his press conference, I asked Rossi to explain why earmarks, which make up just 1 percent of the federal budget, or $15.9 billion, are such a big deal. (In contrast, Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, which Rossi wants to extend, are worth $100 billion a year). Rossi said earmarks are used for horse trading on bigger bills, like Obama's health care bill, that otherwise wouldn't have gotten the 60 votes they needed to avoid a filibuster. For example, Rossi says U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) wouldn't have voted for the health care bill if Democratic leaders hadn't promised to give Nebraska special treatment by guaranteeing federal funding for Nebraska's Medicaid expansion.
I opted not to report on Rossi's remarks because there was nothing new there. However, both the PI.com and the Seattle Times ran with the earmarks story.
Encouraged by the press hits, I guess, the Rossi camp hit again today. This morning, U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) backed Rossi's anti-earmark crusade.
Roll Call picked it up this time and so it made the rounds, getting picked up the PI.
The Murray camp did get off a blistering response:
The problem for Murray, though, is this: The Murray campaign is playing defense. This is a bad sign for Team Murray heading into the the final week of the campaign.
(Never mind that if Murray's millions weren't going to fight meth in Tacoma, fund transit in Spokane, build ships in Whidbey, clean up Hanford, and replace the South Park Bridge, they'd be going elsewhere.)
Rather than framing the campaign around Murray's successes, Murray's team has been forced into response mode, regurgitating the same message that they've been forced to make throughout the campaign about how Rossi himself passed a budget loaded with earmarks as a state senator in 2003. We reported on that repeatedly in June and September, even linking to video in which Rossi, in fact, takes credit for the earmarks budget.
But the Rossi camp keeps pitching. And Murray camp keeps swinging.
Patty Murray challenger Dino Rossi held a press conference in Seattle last week condemning earmarks, saying he'd ban them because he believes that if something is important enough to be in the budget, it should be in the budget from the beginning of the budget process, not added through political haggling.
During his press conference, I asked Rossi to explain why earmarks, which make up just 1 percent of the federal budget, or $15.9 billion, are such a big deal. (In contrast, Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, which Rossi wants to extend, are worth $100 billion a year). Rossi said earmarks are used for horse trading on bigger bills, like Obama's health care bill, that otherwise wouldn't have gotten the 60 votes they needed to avoid a filibuster. For example, Rossi says U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) wouldn't have voted for the health care bill if Democratic leaders hadn't promised to give Nebraska special treatment by guaranteeing federal funding for Nebraska's Medicaid expansion.
I opted not to report on Rossi's remarks because there was nothing new there. However, both the PI.com and the Seattle Times ran with the earmarks story.
Encouraged by the press hits, I guess, the Rossi camp hit again today. This morning, U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) backed Rossi's anti-earmark crusade.
Roll Call picked it up this time and so it made the rounds, getting picked up the PI.
The Murray camp did get off a blistering response:
Murray campaign spokeswoman Julie Edwards dismissed the attacks; she charged that as a state Senator, Rossi requested and supported earmarks.
“This is typical of the kind of dirty, hypocritical campaign Dino Rossi has ran since the very beginning. As a state senator, he asked for earmarks, received earmarks, bragged about his earmarks and included earmarks in the budget he says he wrote. And he has a long documented history of intertwining his business dealings with individuals who lobbied him in the state senate,” Edwards said in an e-mail. [...]
“Now he attacks Patty Murray for fighting for her state and aligns himself with people who are against the needs of Washington State — including individuals who have actively worked to make sure Boeing doesn’t get the tanker contract. This is simply despicable,” she said.
The problem for Murray, though, is this: The Murray campaign is playing defense. This is a bad sign for Team Murray heading into the the final week of the campaign.
(Never mind that if Murray's millions weren't going to fight meth in Tacoma, fund transit in Spokane, build ships in Whidbey, clean up Hanford, and replace the South Park Bridge, they'd be going elsewhere.)
Rather than framing the campaign around Murray's successes, Murray's team has been forced into response mode, regurgitating the same message that they've been forced to make throughout the campaign about how Rossi himself passed a budget loaded with earmarks as a state senator in 2003. We reported on that repeatedly in June and September, even linking to video in which Rossi, in fact, takes credit for the earmarks budget.
But the Rossi camp keeps pitching. And Murray camp keeps swinging.
