Governor

Christine Gregoire

Democrat

Personal: 57, married, with two college-age daughters

Education: Graduated from the University of Washington in 1969, with a teaching certificate and a bachelor’s degree in speech and sociology. Earned law degree from Gonzaga University in 1977.

Professional: While in law school, she worked at the state attorney general’s office in Spokane, handling social service cases, consumer protection and education cases. After living in Spokane from 1974 to 1982, Gregoire became the first female deputy attorney general in state history, and moved to Olympia. She was appointed director of the state Department of Ecology from 1988-92.

Political: Gregoire was elected attorney general in 1992, a post she still holds.

Key issues: Gregoire said jobs and the economy are a top priority, and she says she wants the state to have 250,000 new jobs within four years. Improving the state’s education system, from preschool programs through university, is also high on Gregoire’s list. Teachers must be paid more, she said, and colleges must be ready for a predicted surge in freshmen and transfers. “I think priority No. 1 has to be stopping the hemorrhaging of our young folks dropping out of high school,” she said. “Those kids are not going to have a shot at a good job – or probably any job – and they’ll probably end up back in the social service system.” Another key focus, she said, will be expanding health care, particularly for children. She wants the state to pool its massive medical purchasing power and allow small employers to piggyback onto that, so they can afford to provide health insurance for their workers.

Quote: “I’m a fiscal conservative, socially progressive.”

Key influence: President John F. Kennedy.

Favorite book: “Profiles in Courage,” by John F. Kennedy

First priority if elected: To spur jobs and improve the economy. “As Kennedy once said, the best social policy is a good job.”

Dino Rossi

Republican

Personal: 44, married, with four children

Education: Bachelor’s in business management from Seattle University, 1982.

Professional: Rossi is a commercial real estate broker, and manages and owns real estate.

Political: He was elected to the state Senate in 1996, on his second attempt, representing a district in the Seattle suburbs and Cascade foothills. He rose quickly in leadership, gaining a reputation as a budget hawk and tough negotiator

Key issues: The economy and education reform. “We’ve got to get people back to work,” Rossi says. How? By making it easier to do business in Washington, doing away with outdated or unneeded regulations and by making it harder to file big liability lawsuits, particularly against rural doctors. On education, Rossi said, the state is largely handcuffed when it comes to distributing school dollars, with money handed out on the basis of complex staffing ratios. “It has nothing to do with whether they (students) are actually learning,” he said. He said Washington must change so that state money rewards academic performance and results. “We’re going to have to somehow make that link, and it won’t be easy,” he said. Not one of Rossi’s key issues – but one that his opponents are focusing on – are his anti-abortion views. Rossi is Catholic. “I’ve always believed that abortion was never intended except for maybe cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother,” he said.

Quote: “We have one of the largest unemployment rates in the nation, and we aren’t going to change that by electing the same people to do the same thing over and over again.”

Key influence: His father

Favorite book: Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles.”

First priority if elected: Replacing state agency heads “with ones with a different attitude, one of helping people through the maze, rather than ‘I gotcha.’ “