Politico: "Senate control hinges on unlikely trio" (Boxer, Murray, Feingold)

Jonathan Martin (Politico):

Murray, like Feingold and Boxer, has had the good fortune to run in 1992 and 1998, election years that were good to Democrats nationally. In 2004, the Bush re-election campaign didn’t contest Washington state.

“Dino does not have anybody to drag him down this cycle,” said Washington GOP chairman Luke Esser, referring to Bush’s seven-point loss there in 2004.

Rossi said he could overcome the Democrats’ Puget Sound electoral lock because he hails from the Seattle area and actually held a state Senate seat in King County.

He also expressed confidence that Murray’s message that she has delivered for the state, in part thanks to her seat on the Appropriations Committee, would fare about as well when veteran Washington Democratic giants Sen. Warren Magnuson and House Speaker Tom Foley made the same pitch, respectively, in 1980 and 1994—both wave years for the GOP.

“This is probably not the year to be talking about pork,” said Rossi.

Murray backers note that the “mom in tennis shoes” has been underestimated in the past and never won by anything less than eight percent.

Already, the senator is on the state’s airwaves slamming Rossi for saying he opposed the new Wall Street regulations and Murray’s campaign is making the case that he’s less-than-pure on fiscal issues. MORE...