Ed. Note: Dino Rossi, the Republican candidate for governor in Washington, is part Tlingit from his mother's side of the family.

"There's a new game in town, only it's not so new in Washington's history. A key political race is being run with heavy emphasis on the role of a minority group, Native Americans.

Dino Rossi's political supporters are being careful to avoid ethnic aspersions as they make the pitch that Gov. Chris Gregoire and Democrats are financial tools of Indians and tribal casino money. In a new ad from the Republican Governors Association, in fact, there's a deliberate effort to portray tribal representatives as intelligent and the governor's folks as, well, bureaucratic and bizarre. But the tribes' supposed influence clearly is being used as a hammer against themselves and a good friend.

The newest ad is inventive: almost fact free, and especially in all the relevant detail they ignore to gleefully bash the governor. The ad imagines negotiations in which Gregoire's representatives keep refusing tribal contributions to the state, until the tribes finally give up.

Gambling revenues have greatly improved job opportunities for tribal members and their neighbors. Stronger tribal economies also have helped heal what were arguably the worst relations between tribes and any state, even before fishing controversies in the 1970s and beyond.

There's reason for honest questioning when money pours into, need we note, both parties. But we don't in any way like the feel of a campaign being waged so heavily on fears of a people we thought were less marginalized than in the state's past."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Campaign 2008: New blame game (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 9/9)

Earlier Story:
Washington governor slams anti-gaming ad as racist (8/7)