If you missed the debate tonight, let me summarize it for you. The fat lady singing was not Dino Rossi, but an incumbent who appears to be running against George W. Bush and who thinks that embryonic stem cell research and emergency contraception are what voters are really concerned about right now.

When it came to the really pressing problems, like transportation and the budget deficit, Gregoire mentioned at least three times that she "inherited" her "opponent's budget."

Wait, I thought Gary Locke was the Governor before her. How did Rossi get tagged with a budget that Gregoire "inherited?" The budget that Senator Rossi helped craft on the Senate Ways and Means Committee (in 2003) was signed by Governor Locke and endorsed by both parties.

In a bizarre, what I would call desperate, attempt to distance herself from a clearly failed record on transportation, she reverted to the "I inherited it" excuse again, but still offered that the Narrows Bridge and about 100 other projects were hallmarks of success. She never offered any ideas or solutions to the problems of congestion, highway expansion, the 520 bridge or the viaduct, though she did attack Dino's transportation plan and his ideas regarding these specific projects. What gives?

You heard it here first: we are witnessing the slow and steady meltdown of Gregoire's campaign and tonight's performance revealed some certain signs.

Just two weeks ago Gregoire's fund raising numbers were released for August, which were a half million dollars below Dino's. Her big fundraiser with Michelle Obama was hardly a sellout and rumor has it that her earnings from the event were lower than expected.

Last week the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council as well as the Senate Ways and Means committee released dismal news about our state budget deficit. It was worse than expected at over 3 billion dollars. The Governor's office refused to comment. This along with the Spokane tribe giveaway that even NPR agreed had the appearance of wrongdoing.

The closest she came to acknowledging the state's deficit tonight was to blame George Bush for hard times and then to insist that we have a 700 million surplus. To this Dino reminded the audience that when you have $800 in your bank account, but $4,000 in expenses due by January, it's foolish to insist that you have a surplus. That's what Gregoire is doing.

Dino's most devastating blow of the night was with regard to crime and public safety. Gregoire claimed that she has the endorsement of "all the major law enforcement organizations" in the state. Dino pointed out that the law enforcement organizations that endorse her are the lobbyists in Olympia, while the rank and file police officer unions, "those who serve in our neighborhoods,"  endorse him. He then listed about twelve or thirteen police unions that have officially endorsed him, ending with the Seattle Police Officers Guild and the King County Police Officers Guild, the two largest law enforcement unions in the Northwest (not the state, but the Northwest).

Gregoire's rebuttal involved bragging about "increased beds in jails" or something like that.

But here's your Red County exclusive analysis from a front row view of tonight's debate and what nobody will be saying tomorrow. The real sign of how badly Gregoire's campaign is going is how hard she seemed to be working for the liberal, pro-choice crowd by bringing up embryonic stem cell research and emergency contraception. These issues are only important to the far left, or in Gregoire's case, the Seattle crowd. By debate time, she should have the far left solidly in her camp and should be aiming all her focus on the swing vote, the crossover vote and the moderates. You don't get moderates or crossover republicans by talking about issues regarding embryos and emergency contraception.

I believe Gregoire's performance tonight was an indication that she is in the fight of her life.
Good.

In case you missed the debate, watch it here.