Last Night's Murray/Rossi Debate: More Fun Than Waxing Floors at the Space Needle

The joy of challenging an incumbent is that you can make all of DC your whipping boy. This is a political standard older than John McCain. Experts have found that a candidate can employ this method successfully in any election for either party. Last night, Republican Senatorial Candidate Dino Rossi was in incumbent attack mode, demonstrating his very own flavor of anti-DC rhetoric.

Questions came from an in-studio panel and from voters via taped video segments. Depressing questions on Afghanistan and health care brought predictably depressing answers from both candidates. A question on tuition reform from a college student gave Rossi the opportunity to opine on one of his favorite blue collar credentials. While Rossi was a business student at Seattle University he worked as a janitor waxing the floors (and we presume other, less romantic janitorial tasks) at the Space Needle.

A sharper divide came when the subject of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell came up. Sen. Patty Murray co-sponsored a bill that would repeal DADT, giving her a clear-cut opinion on the subject. Rossi on the other hand, claimed that “up till now (DADT) appears to have been working.” He went on to discuss some vague report that was coming out at some future time, noting that he would “thoroughly investigate” said report before making a decision. Good thing he straightened us out (pun intended) on that issue.

Perhaps the most deliciously awkward portion of the night came from an emailed question asking both candidates to complement each other. Much like the dreaded “what are your weaknesses?” question in a typical job interview, this seemed to leave both candidates stumped. Murray complimented Rossi’s willingness to run, noting that it was a “huge sacrifice for his family.” Rossi admitted he appreciated Murray’s work with veterans.

Ah, politics. Tune in Sunday for the second (and last) debate on KOMO at 7:00pm. Your drinking game words are: amnesty, DC, and jobs. You will be in the hospital with alcohol poisoning before the opening statements are finished.