Further evidence of Gregoire's problem with young voters -- the student newspapers at the University of Washington (The Daily) and Washington State University (The Daily Evergreen) endorsed Rossi. Perhaps Gregoire should have spent more time talking about how she has increased the number of slots at our public universities and funded more financial aid and improvements to college buildings.
http://dailyuw.com/2008/10/29/daily-endorses-dino-rossi/http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/26756But I also see notable positive signs for Gregoire in the Survey USA poll. She has pulled even with Rossi among men (49%-49%) while retaining her lead among women (52%-47%). She dominates among seniors in Hillary-like fashion (57%-42%).
There are two factors which I consider the most significant. The first is that as CultureKing mentioned, Gregoire leads among those who already voted 53%-46% (though this is tempered by the fact that Rossi leads 50%-47% among those who have not yet voted). The second is that Survey USA agrees with the most recent Rasmussen Poll showing Gregoire reaching 50% support. When I saw the Rasmussen poll I speculated that in spite of all the millions of dollars of negative advertising from the RGA and BIAW, Gregoire might be developing some teflon. I now think that teflon is real.
This race is still a tossup, of course. But for Gregoire supporters, there is reason to put a pinky on the scale of optimism.