According to The Columbian, Clark County's paper of record, Governor Gregoire's campaign  ignored repeat invitations by the Camas-Washougal Rotary and the Woodland Chamber of Commerce to debate Dino Rossi. After a few months of stalling, Gregoire's campaign finally sent a "No Thank You" e-mail last week. The e-mail rejection offered no reason for the rebuff, though the Rossi campaign accepted the invitation to debate on two occasions.

Clark County has approximately 257,000 registered voters (which comprises 7.5% of the state's electorate), which is no chump change in a race that by all accounts is a dead heat. Gregoire's camp has agreed to debate events in almost exclusively urban settings or liberal friendly venues, to include Seattle, Tacoma and even one event that will be moderated by Portland media outlets! I see "PBS" all over the place on their list of "approved debate venues."

My take is that Gregoire knows she needs to shore up her liberal inner-city support. In 2004 a hearty 77,000 John Kerry democrats in Seattle voting districts did NOT vote for Gregoire. Nobody knows if these left-of-center voters supported Rossi, the independent Ruth Bennett or if they just refrained from voting for Governor. We do know that they didn't care for the Queen. I'm betting that her internal sources are advising that she "shore up the base." Remember when Al Gore didn't even win his home state of Tennessee?

The 500 seat accommodations that Clark County civic groups arranged for this debate is certainly large enough to warrant the Governor's attention and resources. Apparently, though,  just not the right "kind" of people for her. Vancouver, a rapidly growing metropolitan area is probably still too mainstream. I bet their plastic shopping bags are still free!