Where's the Party?

The question has been asked many times - "Why isn't Barack doing better against John McCain." I prefer to ask, "Why is Barack doing so well against John McCain." After all, Barack is unelectable.

The answer, of course, is that being a Republican candidate today is a bit like being a car salesmen. For General Motors. Just ask Dino Rossi, the Republican who is trying again to become Governor of Washington State.

The state Democratic Party filed suit Tuesday in an attempt to force Dino Rossi to list his party preference as "Republican" on the November ballot instead of "GOP Party."

Yup. The brand is so bad that Dino decided he'd be better off keeping his party affiliation as quiet as possible.

Polls by Stuart Elway have suggested many people don't know that GOP and Republican mean the same thing. One recent Elway poll indicated Rossi did better among voters if he used the "GOP" label instead of "Republican."

"There's no question we were shocked by the Elway poll," state Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz said, adding that an internal poll by the party had a similar finding.

It's legal in Washington to list your party affiliation anyway you like. Democrats could just call themselves the Anti-Surge Party if they wanted something more pithy.

Democrats say the Iraq War and low approval ratings for President Bush have left the Republican Party a damaged brand and that Rossi is trying to distance himself by using GOP as his affiliation.

Rossi is running against Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. He lost to Gregoire by 133 votes in the 2004 election, and polls show this race to be close as well.

GOP stands for Grand Old Party, a nickname the Republicans picked up in the 1870s. The phrase is often used by the news media when referring to Republicans, but it hasn't served as an official party designation on an election ballot, until now.