Governor raises twice challenger's money

With the 2008 legislative session freeze on fundraising behind her, Gov. Chris Gregoire has shifted her campaign into high gear, raising twice as much money as GOP challenger Dino Rossi in April, according to figures provided by the respective campaigns.

The Democratic governor raised about $1.3 million in April, said campaign spokesman Aaron Toso.

Rossi's spokeswoman, Jill Strait, said the Republican's campaign raised about $625,000 during the same period.

Combined with previously reported contributions, Gregoire has raised about $6 million and has $3.8 million in cash on hand. Rossi's totals were about $4.4 million raised and about $3 million on hand. Disclosure reports show that Rossi has spent $1.2 million but spending in April was not included.

Detailed public disclosure reports are due next week.

Toso said it was unlikely that Gregoire would be able to sustain the current cash flow. "It would be hard to match $1.3 million every month, but we expect strong fundraising," he said. "We just got started campaigning. We will continue to talk about the governor's record."

Despite the growing gap in fundraising, Rossi has been celebrating a milestone. On his campaign Web site, Rossi has posted a video clip of him surprising his 30,746th donor.

"Why is that significant? Well, we just passed the number of contributors we had in the entire campaign in 2004," Rossi says in the clip. "We just wanted to come down and say thank you."

The video shows Rossi dropping in on Rhonda Ray Wells of Auburn to thank her with a copy of his book and balloons. Wells supported Rossi in 2004 and donated $50 to his campaign this election cycle.

Rossi says another reason for optimism is the number of new supporters. "Sixty-two percent of our donors are new to the campaign, people who didn't contribute in 2004," Strait said. "We are way ahead of where we thought we would be and we never expected to surpass the total number of donors from the 2004 campaign this early."

Experts have predicted the upcoming rematch of the 2004 election that Gregoire won by 133 votes after two recounts and a protracted lawsuit could easily burn through combined expenditures of more than $20 million.

Toso said Gregoire is not taking anything for granted. "I don't think our Republican opponent will have any shortage of cash -- and the governor's supporters know that and that's why they know it's so important to get involved early," he said.